


Metallurgy

by thegirlgrey



Category: Captain America (Movies), MCU, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. make an appearance, Avengers Family, BAMF Darcy Lewis, Background Darcy Lewis/Clint Barton, Background Relationships, Background Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson - Freeform, Bromance, Bucky Barnes & Darcy Lewis Friendship, Bucky and Darcy are bros, Epic Friendship, F/M, Fantastic Four make an appearance, Friendship, Minor Clint Barton/Darcy Lewis, Minor Steve Rogers/Sam Wilson, Protective Avengers, Protective Bucky Barnes, Protective Clint, WinterShock - Freeform, X-Men make an appearance, ducky - Freeform, mcu - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-17
Updated: 2014-07-17
Packaged: 2018-02-05 02:47:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 10
Words: 22,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1802551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegirlgrey/pseuds/thegirlgrey
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>met·al·lur·gy<br/>noun (me-təl-ˌər-jē)<br/>: a science that deals with the nature and uses of metal</p><p> </p><p>Bucky finds his footing as an Avenger with Darcy's help.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

He’s noticed her around before. It’s hard not to. She’s all curves and quick wits. He knows who she is, but she doesn’t usually notice him, at least not how everyone else notices him. When he was first recruited, most of the SHIELD agents were wary. He gets that. He did try to kill more than a couple of them (all of them, actually). A few still look him over with calculating eyes. Those are the ones that think they could take him in a fight. They are arrogant and mostly annoying as shit. Now, after working with the Avengers, there are a handful that look at him and don't see the Winter Soldier or a challenge or just another Avenger. They look at him and see James Buchanan Barnes.

Darcy had taken one look at him and just saw Bucky. The first time they met there was no immediate fight or flight reaction from her. She had simply nodded her head in recognition, gave him a bright smile, and continued on her way to the labs. Busy as always. They haven't exchanged anything more than the occasional greeting as they pass in the hall or a quick sharing of intel about where one of the other Avengers have gotten to. He’s noticed her not because she’s goddamn beautiful (she is), but because she’s smart as a whip and can crank out the snark with the best of them. He noticed her because she noticed _him_.

He’s sitting in the main common area of Avengers Tower when Stark and Darcy come bustling through. Stark has something in his hand that he is rapidly typing on and frowning at increasingly. Darcy is trailing after him with the Stark Tablet she always has with her. She’s lazily flicking things away as Stark continues to rant about fluid dynamic something’s. Darcy knows when to scoff and agree so well that Stark doesn’t even realize that she isn’t paying him the slightest bit of attention. Bucky pushes his hair out of his eyes for what feels like the thousandth time. He ignores the room’s new occupants as he continues to read the book Sam had given him. Harry Potter is kind of a little shit (that reminds Bucky of Steve, or at least the fragments of Steve that he remembers as a kid.)

Stark keeps walking through the room, out into the hall and onwards, as she stops near the couch, near him. He can feel Darcy watching him. He looks up to her staring at him with a raised eyebrow. He huffs. His hair falls in his face, again.

“What?”

She smiles at him and slides something off of her wrist. It’s a thin elastic ring. Now, it’s his turn to raise an eyebrow. She shakes her head and walks around to the back of the couch. He feels her fingers in his hair and stiffens. If she notices, she doesn’t show it. She continues combing her fingers through his hair and _oh_ , she’s putting it in a ponytail. It’s something he’s seen men do. He just hasn’t thought to try it out. Steve hasn’t said anything, but Sam has made subtle comments about new hairstyles these days when they saw a punk kid, an actual punk kid, with a rainbow colored Mohawk. Natasha straight up told him to get a damn haircut, or she’d give him one. He doesn’t want short hair. He’ll look too much like the man he was, the one he barely remembers. He likes his hair this way, most days. He’s pulled from his thoughts by gentle hands on his chin. Darcy’s walked back around the sofa to stand in front of him. He'd been so stuck in his head he hadn't noticed. She turns his face to the side gently. He lets her. She grins at him. 

“Congratulations, you’ve upgraded from Sad Hobo to Chic Hobo."

Stark had made the Hobo comment too. Bucky doesn’t give a shit about how he looks. He’s just happy his hair isn’t falling in his face anymore. (He’s just happy to have his free will back and a place to call home with people that care about him and not the status of his missions.)

“Shouldn’t you be following Stark around? "

She rolls her eyes and steps back from him a bit. He hadn’t realized he was feeling crowded until she backed off. He flicks his eyes over her and the relaxed, submissive stance of her body. She really is more observant than most give her credit for.

“I’ve got at least 3 more minutes before he realizes I’m not in the same room as him anymore.”

He laughs. She tilts her head and sticks her hand out to him to shake. It's actually their first official meeting.

“I have to say it’s a good look on you, Barnes.” 

He let’s a smile slip onto his face and takes her hand.

“For you? It's just Bucky, Doll.”

She laughs and picks up her tablet. She’s halfway to the door when he speaks. He thinks he already knows her answer.

“Not going to give me your name?”

She throws a smile over her shoulder on her way out. Her bright red lips remind him of another time, and, for once, it’s not a bad memory.

“You know who I am.”

He turns back to his book with a grin still on his face.

Yeah, he does.


	2. Chapter 2

"So a little birdy told me-"

She actually rolls her eyes toward Sam, who is trying to hide behind his bowl of soup, when she says it. Bucky knows that she would have never gone for such an obvious pun. They've become pretty good friends fast, much to Coulson and Fury's horror.

"-that you were about ready to climb up the walls."

He pushes away his picked apart sandwich. He has been itching to get out. But SHIELD is wary about letting him out without a leash (everyone that can take him _out_ if he goes AWOL is on-mission, and it's been five days of being stuck within SHIELD parameters). Meaning he can't even go to the fucking café he likes, six blocks down, without an escort of half a dozen men. SHIELD is just being cautious like he asked them to. (He may be stable now, but he isn't willing to mess around with anybody else's life. He knows what he is capable of, and he's terrified of what he can do if he goes blackout.) He's willing to admit that he's a dumbass and that the house arrest is starting to wear on him. (What really is starting to wear on him is the fact that Stark put a fucking robot in place of an actual coffee machine in the tower. He's tired of waiting for Darcy to make a pot, and he _REFUSES_ to ask Stark because the guy's an asshole.)

He nods. She beams at him.

"Well, come on, soldier. Take a lady out for a coffee."

He blinks. Because if it were any other dame, he'd be damn well pleased to be getting asked out by a gorgeous gal. But this isn't any other dame. It's Darcy, and this is her trying to help him save face. God, he loves her.

"Gotta be level 9 just to get me out the door, Doll."

She rolls her eyes and digs out a badge from her bag. It's got her face and clearance level and _huh_. He quirks a brow.

"Told you. I work for Pepper _and_ Coulson. I got moved up the ranks pretty quick. I had to."

He leans back and crosses his arms over his chest.

"Can't leave without-"

She pulls a glock out of the bag. (The bag isn't even that big, and he had looked inside of it and hadn't noticed it. Women's purses will forever be a mystery to him.) She taps the side with her trigger finger.

"Nap Time for Bucky if he goes all muder-y."

Those special Sleeper Rounds are hard to come by. Coulson's little B Team must like her a lot. He arches the other brow at her.

"And if I disarm you?"

She pulls out a taser.

"This has taken down mortals and gods alike. Before you open your mouth, I've got two syringes somewhere on my person, and I'm _very_ good at playing pin the tail on the donkey."

He looks her over. She just tilts her head and smiles.

"So, we ready to go?"

He lets out a relieved breath and smiles back.

"Let's get out of here."

He stands and offers her his arm just because he knows she'll get a kick out of it. She does.

"You know climbing walls are for spiders...and hiding in air ducts are for weirdos."

Bucky hears the indignant "hey" above them and to the right. He doesn't know how Darcy knows Barton's up there, but he smiles and pushes the button on the elevator for the lobby. Once he's inside, he leans against the wall.

"The Hawk going to be shadowing us all day?"

She snorts, rooting around in her bag again.

"Not if he knows what's good for him."

And that, coming from Darcy? It isn't an idle threat. Apparently, before Bucky signed up with the Avengers, Stark had met the end of Darcy's patience and met her wrath. He doesn't know all the details, but the man slept locked in his garage for a week and had his food delivered by Dum-E. He's never not turned in paperwork again. Darcy pulls him out of his thoughts with a victorious cry.

"Ah ha! Knew it was in here."

He eyes the small, black tissue covered square. She looks pleased as punch. (And seriously, her bag isn't that big. Where does all the extra space come from?)

"I found this guy on Etsy. He's a tattoo artist and former Marine. He lost his leg because of an IED. He hated how his prosthetic looked so he painted it. He makes cover ups, and he even tattoos prosthetics now. I messaged him and asked if he could do something for you, to cover up your arm."

She bites her lip and holds the package out to him.

"I know you hate it when people stare."

He shakes his head, but he reaches out to take the bundle from her.

"No, Doll. I hate when anybody but you guys stare at it."

She gives him a soft smile that quickly turns embarrassed. The floors whizz on by.

"I asked Steve what you'd like for him to paint on the cover up. He said anything but the Swiss Alps."

Bucky snorts as his metal fingers tear through the tape easily. The sound dies in his throat as his fingers hold up the arm cover. He's shocked by the feel of it. It's light material, but it's dense. It reminds him of the stuff Natasha's suits are made of. It looks like it would fit over his whole arm, stopping at the wrist. It's also painted.

It's the Howling Commandos. It's Dum Dum's bowler hat on the back of his arm. It's Morita's kbars, laid across each other like an X on the inside of his bicep. It's Falsworth's flash pin from his beret on his forearm. It's Jones' 259 round belt full of ammo weaving around and in and out of the piece. It's Dernier's rosary wrapped around the wrist. But it's the Avengers too. It's arrows from Barton in the empty spots, it's Natasha's widow bite in his elbow, and it's Thor's Hammer above it. There's a bright green test tube for Banner, Stark's faceplate, and the SHIELD symbol for Coulson. There's Sam's wings, a tiny taser sparking for Darcy, and there is Steve's Shield, red, white, and blue, sitting right where the red star is on his shoulder.

"Darcy, it's, it's _amazing_."

It's all black and grey and muted color as to not pull too much attention. The silver of his arm will peek through in certain places because it's meant to. It looks made for him. Hell, it is made for him. He looks away to see Darcy grinning ear to ear.

"I asked Jarvis to get me size specs from Tony. The guy who made it, Dan, only knows it's a special prosthetic, but he says that he'd be more than happy to come here and paint it on if you really wanted it once he saw what I was asking for."

He doesn't know what to do. He can't stop staring at the cover in his hands. He wants to say yes. But he knows that it won't last a mission. (He also knows that while some days he might hate the arm, it's still a part of him. But to have this, to be able to wear this...) He hits pause on the elevator and pulls Darcy into a hug.

" _Thank you_."

She hugs him back fiercely, and she ignores it if she notices his eyes are damp. She pokes at his chest.

"Well, put it on already."

He shrugs out of the light jacket. It's still too hot for a New York summer, but it stops people from staring. Darcy helps him slip it on. It fits snug, but he still has a full range of movement. He was right about the metal shining through. It gives the drawings depth and lets the colors come through in all the right places. It makes the kbars glint, and Darcy's taser actually looks like it's going off.

"I don't know much about art except that I'm wearing it."

She smiles at him and releases the pause.

"He asked for a picture, if that's okay with you?"

He nods, still staring down at his arm.

"More than okay, Doll."

They finally get their coffee after she makes him pose in front of the SHIELD statue in the lobby for a picture. People stare at his arm alright, but they tell him how awesome it is. For once, it’s not a bad distraction and something to talk around. This cover is something he’s proud to have on his body. He's pretty sure he's smiled more at complete strangers than he has at his own team in the two hours they spend in the café. He gives Darcy another hug as they part ways when they finally make it back to the tower. He tries to put everything into it that he can’t say. She seems to get it just fine.

“Let me know if you need me to prison break you again.”

He nods and watches until she’s safely back in the labs. He catches the paper airplane before it hits him in the back of the head. He unfolds it to find a note.

_Nice piece._

He smiles down at his left arm before turning and saluting the maintenance vent where he knows Barton is hiding. He hears a startled curse and the telltale sound of a body part meeting metal.

“How the hell do you do that!?”

He doesn't quit smiling the rest of the day.

(If it freaks everyone out, well then, he just smiles wider.)

* * *

He ignores the hovering for half an hour. When Sam sticks it out for another hour Bucky decides that the guy deserves a break. He closes his book. It’s something Darcy had recommended. It’s James Dean’s biography. He was a pretty interesting guy. It's a shame that he died so young.

“What can I help you with, Sam?”

Sam gestures towards the closed book with his chin.

“I see Darcy has started her own Welcome to the 21st Century course.”

Bucky shrugs. There’s a lot SHIELD doesn’t cover. Yeah, he needs to know we aren't on that great a terms with North Korea, but it’s nice to know that women have a safe place to go when they are in trouble, medically. (But it’s still bullshit that a man thinks he has _any_ say on what a woman does with her body.)

“She’s been helping out. Those _Lord of the Rings_ movies are pretty cool. I get the Legolas references Tony’s always spewing now.”

Sam smiles.

“Yeah, I always liked Gimli.”

Bucky tilts his head. He knows Sam didn't wait him out to talk about his favorite fictional characters. (Gimli's cool, but Aragorn is a badass.)

“You gonna ask what you came here to ask or what?"

The self deprecating smile on Sam's face lets him know exactly who wants the answer. Steve is always sticking his nose into places where it doesn't belong. And damnit if Bucky isn't always going to be there to keep it from getting cut off, even if it's butting into his business. 

“You are Darcy have been pretty close lately…”

And there it is. Bucky rolls his eyes. Darcy is pretty much the first person outside of Steve that he actually cares about. (Okay, he likes the Avengers and Coulson and Sam well enough. But like hell is he going to admit that to anyone. Stark wouldn't shut up about it, and Natasha would give him that little _smirk_ of hers.) He knows exactly what Steve is worried about. He knows exactly where this talk is going. Sam is a certified psychologist after all. 

“Look Sam, there may be a lot of things that scare the shit out of me, but my feelings ain’t one of them. They never have been.”

Sam spreads his hands out in front of him like _Hey, I never said you were_. Bucky appreciates that Sam’s not fighting him on his answer. (People still don't trust that what he says is what he thinks. There ain’t nobody sitting behind some curtain in his head controlling him, not anymore. Sam takes him at face value.)

“You asking me if I love Darcy? Then the answer is yes. I’d go to hell and back for that girl.”

He shrugs and leans back in his chair. Sam just makes a continue gesture.

“You asking me if I want to sleep with her? I'll be honest. I wouldn't say no if she wanted to get me between the sheets, but I'm not in love with her.”

Sam nods but gets this complicated look on his face.

“You don’t think you deserve love?”

It does take a lot of control not to roll his eyes. He’s got three people on Coulson’s payroll that try to shrink him four days out of the week. He doesn't need Sam too.

“Darcy is too good for me. Period, end of story. I don’t deserve her, and I don’t deserve her friendship. But she’s decided to give it to me anyway. And if there is one thing I am, it’s that I’m kind of a selfish bastard. If she’s willing to love me, I’m going to let her. But I will never let my selfishness hurt the people I care about.”

“Like you running from Steve.”

Bucky shrugs. Once his mind healed and he came back, he couldn’t even dare to think about pulling Steve into his shit. He wanted nothing more than to run back to the only thing in this world that he actually still knew, that still made sense to him, but he had done so many horrible, despicable things. What he wanted took a back burner to what Steve needed. (It turned out that what Steve needed was his best friend back. He wasn’t too happy with Bucky’s decision to be a lone wolf, so he dragged Bucky's ass back kicking and screaming.)

“Yeah well, Steve is kind of an outlier. I don’t want a relationship. I’m not even in a remotely good place for it. I don’t have baggage, Sam. I have an entire mini storage facility.”

Sam looks like he wants to disagree (about the relationship thing, not the baggage thing), but eventually he sighs and nods. They sit quietly for a while. Bucky goes back to his book, and Sam looks pensively out of the window. It looks like he wants to say something else.

“If you’re worried that she’s in love with me, she ain’t. She’s kind of stuck up on our resident bird of prey.”

If he only he had a camera. Sam’s face is priceless. Bucky has thrown him 500 feet off the side of a moving helicarrier with busted wings, and Sam had been less scared than he is now. The guy looks like he's a second away from a panic attack. It’s fucking hilarious.

“I meant Barton, Sam. She’s hung up on Barton.”

It looks like Sam’s strings have been cut. He sags into his chair and laughs nervously.

“I knew that. I totally knew that.”

Bucky quirks an eyebrow at Sam as he stands to leave.

“Sure you did, pal. Just like you know Steve has a little bit of a crush on his own bird of prey.”

Bucky watches as Sam loses his footing and falls back into the chair. He looks shell-shocked. He keeps opening and closing his mouth like a goldfish. Seriously, he needs a camera. He wonders if Stark can put one in his arm. Bucky eventually takes pity on the poor bastard.

“Or I can go and get Darcy so you can have your existential life crisis about the Star Spangled Man?”

Sam waves a hand at him. Bucky feels like he maybe overstepped his bounds, a little bit. (Okay, maybe a lot.) He thought Sam knew, and he was just trying to be all honorable and give Steve some space. 

“No, no. It’s just kind of a lot to process. I thought he went after kickass ladies who favor red lipstick?”

Bucky shrugs.

“A flag flies in all directions.”

Sam pulls an unimpressed face. Bucky nods.

“Okay, so the metaphor got away from me.”

The look that takes over Sam’s face is raw amusement.

“I don't get how Steve didn't see it. Darcy’s basically the female version of you.”

Bucky grins.

“She is kind of my best friend.”

Sam cracks up laughing.

“I bet Coulson just got the chills.”

He laughs and tosses a pillow at Sam’s face. He catches it easily. Bucky can see why Steve likes Sam. He’s a good man. He doesn’t let the simple stuff trip him up. (If you call having a national freaking icon having a crush on you as simple.) Sam claps him on the back before he leaves. Bucky stops him before he’s out of the door.

“You might want to have this “feelings” conversation with Barton. He’s the one that needs sorting, Doc.”

“It’s on my to-do list.”

Bucky understands that Sam needs some time to digest everything, but Bucky is willing to admit that he is also kind of a dick. (If that’s all that came out of him being brainwashed and used as a murder puppet for 50 something years then he’ll make peace with it.) He can't help but throw him a lavish grin and a wink at his friend.

“Steve on that to do list?”

Sam trips on the door jam on his way out.

“NOT FUNNY, BARNES!”

* * *

When he tells Darcy, she laughs so hard she cries.

“He-he thought,” she waves a hand between them, “you an-an-and me?”

Bucky nods, chuckling. Darcy has to sit down, put her head between her knees, and breathe.

Tony chooses to back out of the room slowly.

There are some things that he just _doesn’t_ want to know.


	3. Chapter 3

Darcy keeps up with his 21st century education by instigating a standing movie night for him, and Steve, when he can make it. Which usually turns into an Avengers movie night. This Thursday it’s just the two of them and what she calls the Trifecta of Cult Movie Classics. _Fight Club_ was pretty cool, but the book was better. _The Big Lebowski_ was actually a recommendation from Barton. It was pretty good, but he’s not going to tell him that. He actually thinks he likes this one best.

"Doll?" 

Darcy turns her head to look at him, a handful of popcorn halfway to her mouth. 

"I feel victimized by Regina George."

She throws the popcorn at him. He catches some in his mouth which makes her laugh. The thing is, he’s only partly joking. He’s gone up against trained assassins that were less ruthless than teenage girls. (He’s also convinced that Natasha’s got a Burn Book.)

* * *

"What exactly do you do?"

The question comes from Barton who’s lounging on one of the couches pretending to not be watching Darcy as she returns some strongly worded emails. Bucky seriously doesn't understand how he’s managed to survive this long as a spy. He has also never thought a smiley face could be used as a threat.

"I'm Pepper's assistant. Mostly, I'm just her eyes and ears in the New York branch of Stark Industries. I'm also her Tony Keeper."

She spares a second of her work to smile up at Barton. He looks immensely pleased with himself. Bucky rolls his eyes. He’s getting tired of the kid pussy footing around. Darcy likes Barton. Barton likes Darcy. But it isn’t his place to say anything. (He let Steve wipe the floor with him during practice in apology for fucking shit up with Sam, who is back in Washington for an “indefinite amount of time”. Bucky still felt like an ass long after the bruises faded.)

"Jane actually got me the job. She told me I was wasted on her. Now I'm getting donuts and coffee for a billionaire that I have to trick into filling out mission reports with more than just _'I came. I saw. I kicked some ass.'_ "

She lifts a finger in the air before Barton even opens his mouth. She’s not even looking away from her Stark tablet. Bucky smirks.

“Don’t even, Clint.”

Barton slumps into his seat and crosses his arms like a petulant child. Bucky just narrows his eyes at her. They all know Darcy does a hell of a lot more than just that. Either she’s been hanging out with him too much and his hyper vigilant situational awareness is rubbing off on her, or Natasha is teaching her _things_ again. (That strikes a chord of terror in him that he will deny until his dying breath.)

"I am also SHIELD's Cultural Liaison to Asgard."

He and Barton share a surprised look as she types away on the device.

"Phil figured Thor already knew me, and I actually have a degree in Comparative Foreign Policy. Basically, I help Thor out with Midgard stuff when he's here, send off care pancakes to the All Father, take care of whatever Asgardian decides to visit, and make sure nobody starts a war on accident."

Again, she does way more than just that. But that's why he loves Darcy. She never gets too full of herself. He does wish she'd take more credit for what she does.

"You help with all of us though."

She shrugs.

"I'm pretty good at PR because I understand the fandom. I am a part of it after all."

She gives him a cheeky wink. He doesn’t get Tumblr, and _he never wants to_. (He and Darcy went out for dinner and somebody noticed him and took one little picture. Then there was something called _manips_ and there were stories, really _graphic_ stories about them. All because of one little blurry picture of them sitting together.)

“I help Phil with the tricky stuff he can’t do as Director. That means wrangling you lot, organizing fundraisers, being a handler on a mission, and managing PR.”

Then her smile gets all… devious.

"I'm the one that leaked your Planned Parenthood escort volunteering."

He’s confused because…

"Doll, I've been doing that for over a year."

She pats his arm.

"Yes, sweetie. I know. But you also decided to practice your knife skills in front of the protestors."

Barton snorts. Bucky gives him the finger. She laughs.

"So I put the fear of Thor into the appropriate parties until you calmed down a bit. Then I started leaking information bit by bit. Media is all about smoke and mirrors.”

She shrugs and goes back to her tablet when it emits a little chime. He catches Barton’s eye (and if they share proud smiles with each other, then that’s their business.)

* * *

She comes in wearing this killer grey number that hugs her curves sinfully. Her lips are her trademark red. Her hair is curled perfectly. Her heels look sharp enough to kill. He’d wolf whistle if it didn’t look like she was two seconds away from actually using her shoes as weapons. Stark, who has a sixth sense when it comes to detecting pissed off women (survival instinct), looks up from where he’s screwing around with the universal remote. He’d said something about making it print encoded so the only channels that would show up are the things that person’s interested in. That takes a back seat to Darcy kicking off her shoes and shoving a folder of papers at Stark. He immediately flips through them while subtly checking her over to make sure she’s physically okay. (Everyone in the room is doing the same thing.)

“The prototype works as promised. It’s a viable resource, but it will be outdated in a few years. It is not something Stark Industries should pursue.”

Stark flips through the folder quickly. He takes a long look at Darcy and squints.

“But…”

Darcy crosses her arm and frowns. Her body is a line of anger against the glass walls of the penthouse.

“He was forty-five minutes late and stared at my tits the entire meeting."

He and Stark share a disbelieving look. Darcy has tasered people for less.

“He slapped his assistant on the ass, and then he fucking winked at me."

Stark narrows his eyes and flips the folder closed with a snap.

"Eat up all company stock, buy them out, sell it to his direct competition for half the price."

Darcy hands him the second file she’s been holding.

“Done, and you sold the company for a quarter of the price."

Tony laughs as he signs the papers. 

"You were feeling generous." 

She gives him a predatory grin.

"You sold it to his leading competitor who just so happens to be his first ex-wife."

Natasha outright beams. Stark takes the offered pin and signs. He's grinning ear to ear. 

"Anyone else just a little turned on right now?"

Bucky raises his hand with Barton. He's surprised to see Banner and Natasha raise their hands too. Darcy just rolls her eyes, snags Bucky’s beer and Barton’s controller. Bucky doesn't mind. Barton sucks at Mario Cart anyway.

* * *

Bucky is expecting the range to be empty at three in the morning. So he’s surprised to find Darcy with a long-range rifle putting some pretty decent shots into the target. She’s still about an inch off of dead center mass. He’s about to approach when another figure steps out of the shadows. Bucky watches as Barton makes sure to put down his own case down nosily as to not startle her. She doesn’t look up from her scope.

“I destroyed a man’s life today. I keep thinking I shouldn’t feel guilty. I mean, fuck, he had seven sexual harassments lawsuits in the past year. He severely underpays his female workers. He’s cheated on his current wife three times and has been caught publicly twice.”

Barton shrugs.

“If you’re trying to convince me that what you did was wrong then your argument needs some work.”

Darcy jerks away from the scope and looks up to Barton.

“Clint!”

He laughs and rubs at the back of his neck to cover up his embarrassment. But he really can’t hide the disappointment weighing his shoulders down from Bucky’s trained eyes.

“Wasn’t the person you were expecting, huh?”

She shakes her head. Her cheeks look a little pink from here.

“No.”

He jerks a thumb toward the door.

“I could go-”

Darcy immediately cuts him off.

“No, it’s not a bad thing. Stay. I could use some help actually.”

Barton crouches down a little closer to her so she won’t have to keep craning her neck up.

“You’re having some trouble accommodating for your glasses.”

She blinks slowly up at him and then cracks a smile. Barton looks smug.

“Yeah, I lose accuracy with them on, but I can’t exactly fire when they’re snug up against the scope. Either they’ll break or my nose will.”

Barton laughs and slowly reaches for her face, her glasses. Darcy doesn’t make any move to stop him.

“You’re farsighted.”

She doesn’t ask how he knows. She just gives him a sly smile as he takes off her glasses and puts them to the side. She squints at him now, he chuckles.

“You know if I was actually in the field I can’t just take my glasses off. I kind of have to see who I’m shooting at.”

Barton sighs and points at the new target that’s been put up by the computer.

“I know you’ve got clearance, but I hope you never have to get put in the field. Besides we’ll get you your own scope made to your prescription. This is just for tonight.”

He doesn’t catch her staring at him. He’s too busy adjusting her grip on her gun.

“How’d you learn to shoot anyway?”

She adjusts her sight settings as she answers. It’s a nervous habit. She hasn’t messed with the settings since she sighted in after her third shot twenty minutes ago.

“Had an ex-boyfriend who was a Marine. He thought it was hot that I could shoot. As it turned out, he thought it was even hotter that I could shoot better than him.”

Bucky has to bite his lip from laughing at the look on Barton’s face. Looks like Banner’s not the only that gets a little green sometimes. Darcy shrugs and turns to look at him. He manages to pull a relatively interested face together at the last second. He’s got good training. (But it's not good enough to sense Bucky.)

“Then I was stuck in Bumfuck, New Mexico for a year. Entertainment options were kind of limited.”

Barton laughs.

“Yeah, I got the dime tour from this really pissed intern when I helped bring Dr. Foster’s stuff back.”

They share a happy smile. Oh, so that’s where she met Barton.

“Don’t adjust for the glasses anymore. Brace yourself for the full recoil this time too.”

Darcy nods and slips the shooting earplugs from around her neck back on. Barton does the same as he lays on the floor next to her. The first round she fires is half an inch off, but the second hits dead center. (If Bucky throws his hand up in the air, well nobody can see it.) She sets her gun down and switches the safety on. Then she throws her arms around Barton. She has the biggest smile on her face. Barton wraps an arm around her back. He’s very careful to keep one hand and forearm braced on the floor behind him so she doesn’t get hurt against the cold concrete. He laughs with her.

“We get that scope for you and you might beat out me and Barnes one day.”

She laughs and pulls back and sits up next to him. Her face goes drawn and she picks at the hole in the knees of her ratty jeans.

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen. I can’t stomach taking down a scumbag. I don’t think I can stomach actually, you know, shooting someone.”

An interesting expression crosses Barton’s face. It’s fear, for her. That’s a very real fear for Bucky. Darcy is one of the best people he knows, and her hands are clean. This life is too bloody for someone as good as Darcy. Barton swallows and taps at her hand to get her attention.

“You did the right thing today. That guy was a sexist asshole that made his money by cheating it out of people who rightfully deserved it.”

He waits until she nods before he goes on.

“You did the right thing, Darcy. Trust me.”

She gives him a small smile. He returns it and puts two fingers on the stock of the rifle.

“You want to learn some trick shots?”

She laughs at the earnestness in his voice and smiles at his mischievous smirk.

“I’ll leave that to the professionals.”

“You want me to show you a couple then?”

She smiles and shakes her head and watches as he sets up his gun quickly. She pays attention as he talks through a few things. She laughs when he starts shooting upside down and tells her to pick out the numbers he has to hit on the target. He does the last four with his eyes shut. They end up using an entire box of ammo, and Darcy is yawning into her palm before they’re finished. Barton catches her on the tail end of a massive one and smiles softly at her.

“Hey, go get some sleep. I’ll get everything stowed away.”

She shakes her head and tries to pick up the empty ammo box. He stops her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. He pushes her glasses back up by taking the outside of the frames and gently setting them back on her ears properly. He also uses the movement to brushes her hair back away from her face. Bucky can admit that it’s a pretty suave move.

“I’ve got this. Go.”

He smiles at her and she smiles back.

“Night, Clint.”

He nods and goes about picking up the ammo, shells, and gun. Bucky makes a mental note to mention that someone needs to teach her to catch the casings and put them in back in the box for faster clean up. He thinks Barton wouldn’t mind helping her with that.

* * *

The prank war starts as a harmless distraction. Bucky really can’t stand to see Darcy mope. He has a cache of ideas from his old days as a prankster kid in Brooklyn. He gets the rest from the Internet (Google is _awesome_ ). It starts with him covering every inch of her desk with post-it notes that Jane helped him pick out. Some have sarcastic sayings, others motivational quotes, pictures of cats, and there is a coveted Spice Girls commemorative pack that declares Girl Power! in neon colors.

She retaliates by plastic wrapping his door. He doesn’t know how he _doesn’t_ notice it. It must be extra cling though because it will not. come off. of his arm. Leave it to Darcy to find out the only weakness of the Red Room’s pride and joy. Fucking Saran Wrap is his undoing. Stark laughs his ass off, but he manages to get it off and out of the mechanics without much trouble. While he’s down in the labs, Bucky makes a decision.

“Hey JARVIS, give Darcy a message for me. Tell her: _It’s on, Dollface_.”

The AI sounds wary when he answers.

“As you wish, sir.”

Stark raises an eyebrow. Bucky leans back in the work chair and smiles at the ceiling.

“It ain’t fun if the other person doesn’t know they’re in a fight.”

Then Barton accidentally gets caught in the crossfire. And really it’s his fault. He shouldn’t steal other people’s food from the fridge. But the face he makes when he drinks Darcy’s orange juice? It’s priceless. He spits it out in the sink and starts rinsing out his mouth all the while complaining.

“The fuck is that? Cheese powder? Who the fuck does that?”

He gets Darcy back with toothpaste Oreos. Barton gets pudding in his boots. They ask Bruce to mediate long enough to set up rules. Pranks cannot be life endangering. They cannot happen at Darcy’s place of work (Coulson got _mad_ with Barton set off the kool aid water sprinklers). Every participant gets a 24-hour grace period after coming off an op or mission. THE LABS ARE OFF LIMITS. They all agree and things continue on as they were.

It all comes to a head when somebody glitter bombs the Iron Man suit. Bucky wishes he could say it was him. It’s got Darcy written all over it, but she swears it wasn’t her. Stark declares retaliation (covered head to toe in super fine pink glitter). Which turns into a two-day nerf gun war and a final showdown in the penthouse common room. Darcy has managed to take out Stark and is shooting at Barton from where she’s sitting on Stark's back. Stark’s flinging fallen darts at both Bucky and Barton complaining about how hard it is to get glitter out of propulsion systems and how horrible burnt plastic smells even after it gets passed through an air filter. Bucky’s got his sights on Barton. He’s got a clean shot except everything goes FUBAR when Darcy kicks the back of his knees, and he falls off the coffee table.

Stark hits something with the cigar tray he chucks at Barton because Barton does not keep his perch on the back of the couch. He oh, so conveniently lands pressed up all against Darcy where they are piled on the floor. Barton keeps sticking nerf darts to Bucky's left arm, so Bucky retaliates by tying his bootlaces together with Stark’s shoelaces. Darcy is trying to give both him and Barton a wedgie (Barton doesn’t even look mad about it, the weirdo) while Stark is threatening to evict them all when the elevator doors open. They all jerk their heads to watch as Coulson, half the science part of his B-team with the hacker, and Natasha step into the room. Darcy grins and waves.

“Hi, Boss!”

“Agent! Get your minions under control. The busty one bites.”

He yelps half a second later. Barton laughs and lifts Darcy more into his lap. Bucky ignores them. The hacker is pretty cute. He doesn’t care that he’s got about five nerf darts stuck to his arm via suction cup. He leans forward and gives her his most charming smile. He’s pulled dames with less working for him. Coulson catches the look and steps between them. He raises a hand and points at Bucky sternly.

“No.”

Bucky frowns. Coulson points at the rest of the pile.

“No.” 

Darcy pouts and makes her lip quiver. Coulson’s eyes go a little soft, but then Stark starts to quiver _his_ lip. Coulson’s eyes go hard instantly, and his lips thin out into a harsh line.

“This ends now. I can’t believe two of my best agents, Avengers, and my right hand have resorted to petty pranks to get back at each other.”

He steps back into the elevator shaking his head.

“Seriously Barton, you fell for the orange cheese drink. Disappointed doesn’t even begin to cover it. And Barnes, the salt and sugar switch, really?”

Darcy beams at Coulson when she doesn’t get a reprimand. She and Stark high five, but his good mood is cut short when Natasha smirks at him as the elevator doors start to close. JARVIS is slowing them down to accommodate her (he likes everyone more than Stark most of the time).

“Pink is such a good color on you, Tony.”

Stark chokes on air. Bucky shoves a handful of nerf darts down his pants.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tags are updated. The X-Men, the Fantastic Four, and some Agents of SHIELD members will make a guest appearance. Also I left a bit of an Easter Egg about one of my favorite movie spies (that will appear somewhere in chapter 6, I think)!
> 
> I have also finished writing this story! It's longer than I thought it would be so it's expanded to 10 chapters. I'm thinking of posting a new chapter every Tuesday.
> 
> Let me know what you think :)


	4. Chapter 4

Bucky would like it on record that he doesn't think all mutants are assholes, just Magneto and Scott fucking Summers. Usually, when you ask for an assist, you work with the other team. You listen to their advice when you're fighting in their backyard. You work with the people helping you. Summers apparently didn't get that memo. Bucky kind of wants to make him fucking eat it.

Steve is patiently trying to explain exactly how shit went wrong today, but that patience is wearing extremely thin. Summers is adamant that they got the job done, Magneto is in a plastic hamster ball somewhere, and that's the end of the story. Coulson was not pleased but couldn’t say shit because his team acted as best they could under the conditions. He’s still at HQ with Natasha and Darcy, smoothing things out with Professor Xavier, the one they call Storm, and Jean Grey who happens to be Summers’ _wife_. (How he landed a dame like that eludes Bucky.) And okay, maybe he’s a little pissed off because he spent most of the afternoon tossed around like a ragdoll because of his arm and the mutant with a hard on for metal. (He may have bonded a bit more with Stark and Wolverine seeing as they were a cat’s cradle of body parts at one point during the battle.)

The argument is interrupted when Darcy walks in. She grins at the room at large. Bucky’s not fooled. That smile is the one that precedes pain. She’s pissed.

“Oh goody, I didn’t miss out on the dressing down Steve’s about to give you!”

Wolverine, real name Logan, chuckles (he also gives Darcy a thorough once over). Summers does not take kindly to his outburst or Darcy’s.

“And who the hell are you? Tony’s piece on the side?”

Stark actually rears back at the accusation. Darcy looks downright furious.

“Excuse me?”

Before Bucky can move, Thor is there with his hammer raised to strike. The red and black clad fellow that had shown up mid battle starts jumping up and down excitedly. (Bucky voted to shoot him on sight. Barton reluctantly tagged him as friendly. What kind of a name is Deadpool anyway?)

“Ooh! Ooh! Hit me first! Hit me first!”

Bucky takes a precious second to meet Steve’s eyes because _what the fuck_? Logan moves closer to the guy asking to be hit with Thor’s hammer as Steve puts himself between Thor and Summers. Thank God Bruce ducked out early. The big guy would have taken off his head. (The Hulk kind of hero worships Darcy for no reason that any of them can fathom except that she shared some Starbursts with big green once.) Thor looms into Summers’ space. His voice is as cold as ice.

“You will watch your tone when speaking to my friends.”

Darcy rolls her eyes, grabs Thor’s elbow, and tugs until he’s not towering over the mutant anymore.

“The name is Darcy Lewis, and the mission your team screwed up today was my Op.”

He had always known that the dame had a mouth on her, but Darcy had come up with a lot of colorful language over the comms today. The Howling Commandos would have blushed. The one that they call Beast blinks at her. He looks pleasantly surprised and tremendously apologetic for his team leader’s behavior. Bucky likes him.

“You’re Director Coulson’s right hand.”

Darcy crosses her arms and cocks a hip out. She’s been picking up power poses from Pepper. It works for her. Stark steps up next to her. He’s glaring at Summers with rage in his eyes.

“And mine.”

He’s still got his boots on. Dummy and You had to pry him out of the suit after Magneto crushed it in around him. All because Summers went off script and cut off communication with the Avengers. Summers has the decency to look sorry, but he doesn't say it. It rubs Bucky the wrong way. He calls out to Summers from where he is still sprawled out on the couch. (He’s got the rest of the X-Men in his sights from here. He also has the advantage of height. Barton’s only still seated next to him and not at Darcy’s side because his bow and quiver are sitting behind it.)

“I’d watch your mouth, Sparky. He might be an alien, but he is a God.”

Thor interjects.

“I am only a-”

Darcy leans over to pats his cheek gently, not looking away from Summers.

“Not now, big guy.”

Thor concedes to her but doesn't move. He just crosses his arms over his chest and glares at Summers. It’s pretty intimidating to Bucky, but then again Thor is glaring at a man with actual laser beams for eyes. Steve takes a breath.

“Like I was saying, Mjolnir, Thor’s hammer, it’s magi-”

Summer shakes his head; dismissing Steve yet again and not letting him finish speaking. Barton catches Bucky’s eyes. Yeah, he wants to punch this asshole in the mouth too. From the way he keeps clenching his fists, so does Steve.

“You wanted to let him go after Magneto with a metal hammer-”

Darcy’s the one that peers around the men in the middle of the room to speak to his team. Deadpool waves at her. Logan smacks him across the head. She ignores them to look at Beast. She’s good at picking out the most reasonable, responsible person in the room. It's a good trait to have.

“Can you even get a word in edgewise? No wonder why you're always at each other’s throats.”

Logan grins around his cigar. Summers sputters. It’s hilarious.

“You don't have room to talk.”

Darcy snorts and flips her hair over one shoulder.

“Tony?”

He pulls something up on his phone and beams, waving the technology for everyone to see.

“We haven't had problems with inter-team relations in 37 days.”

Darcy turns back to Summers with a defiant smirk. Summers shifts his stance and sets his jaw. He looks around Darcy and Stark to the rest of the Avengers present. Bucky thinks he wouldn't be acting this way if the professor, Storm, and _his wife_ were here.

“The actual superheroes going to join in here any time soon?”

And seriously, they have warned him about his tone. While Thor may be a God, his patience is not God like when it comes to some asshole being a dick to the people he is fond of. The hammer comes down. Literally.

Almost too fast to see, Steve flips Thor over his head and to the ground effectively pulling the hammer from his grasp and saving Summers from a crack to the skull. And holy fucking hell, Steve is holding Mjolnir. Stark promptly sits the fuck down, right there on the floor. Everyone in the room knows that something major has happened; only the Avengers know the extent of it. Darcy recites almost reverently to the room out loud:

**“To whomever holds this hammer, if they be worthy, shall possess the power of Thor.”**

She follows that up with an empathic:

“ _Holy shit_!”

Thor pulls himself from the floor with a bright grin. He all but tackles Steve in a fierce hug.

“Shield Brother Steven! I have always known that you are a man of much bravery and compassion! Mjolnir has chosen a worthy wielder!”

He lifts Steve’s arm, the one that is still holding that hammer, in the air for all to see. The guy practically has stars in his eyes. (Like Steve needs another Captain America fan-girl.)

“My friend and allies, we must celebrate this day! Brother Stark, we must hold a feast in his honor!”

Steve just lifts an eyebrow at the surprised visitors. Barton blinks and finds his voice.

“Yeah, we've got a God, two super soldiers - one of which can have the powers of a God at will now, three assassins, Iron Man, and the freaking Hulk.”

A voice that suspiciously sounds like Stark throws in that the Avengers’ net worth is triple theirs too. The X-Men all nod slowly. Summers clears his throat.

“I probably should have listened to what your plan was.”

Steve nods and gives into Thor’s quiet urges. He calls down the lightning. It’s impressive. He makes the lights flicker in the tower and makes the power surge for sixteen block out in all directions. Darcy looks up at Cyclops, gives him a shit-eating grin, and snaps a picture of his mind blown, mouth still open, shocked face. Barton groans, helping to breakup the moment.

“Damn it, I owe Coulson $50!”

Darcy just grins and forwards the picture to Jane and Pepper. Stark and Thor are actually putting together a loose idea of a party; those two will find any reason to celebrate. Steve and Summers and the Beast are having polite, if stilted, conversation. Barton ignores everything in favor of throwing himself down on the sofa closer to a now seated Darcy and starts pouting. She pats his knee consolingly, but she’s distracted by the texts coming from her phone. Sam’s texts are just punctuation marks and a skull and crossbones. Bucky is done with this whole shitty day.

“I’m going the fuck to sleep.”

Darcy tilts her head to the side and waits patiently. Bucky sighs but leans in to give her the customary peck on the cheek. The Avengers know that it’s just something they do. Steve does it to her too. (She thinks their old school charm is adorable, and she gets a kick out of it.) But he makes damn sure to lock eyes with Logan. (He'd been far too interested in her since she walked in.)

“’Night, Doll.”

“Goodnight, Bucky.”

Logan inclines his head. Bucky is glad that she’s too busy texting to notice the exchange. She would have torn him a new one for warding off Logan. He’s heard the “I'm a big girl” speech one too many times. Bucky still stands by the fact that it’s not his fault she’s attracted to assholes. He’s just trying to help her out.

* * *

When he finally gets to the kitchen for breakfast it’s to Stark grinning around a coffee mug, Darcy grumbling into her pancakes (score! Steve makes awesome pancakes), and Barton taking pictures of something on the couch with his phone like it’s going out of style. Usually, his first stop is the coffee maker. If you can call the monstrosity of a machine that Stark made a coffee maker. But something causes him to stop in his tracks. He walks to the couch and peers over the back of it. What he sees makes him blink, pinch himself with his left arm (the pain is usually enough to pull him out of a memory, so it should be enough to pull him out of some messed up dream), and look again. And yeah, that’s the Deadpool fella. Drooling on the couch. With taser marks burned into the chest of his strange bodysuit. He looks to Barton who is now grinning like the cat that caught the canary.

“What the hell?”

“Ask Darcy.”

He turns to see her viciously stab at her pancakes. Stark opens his mouth and promptly bursts into giggles. Darcy throws an apple at him. He uses the fridge door as a shield for more fruit projectiles. Bucky crosses the room to pour a mug of coffee for himself. When Darcy doesn't start talking, he crosses his arms and raises an eyebrow at her. She grumbles at him.

“He called me a bodacious, busty beauty and then proceeded to tell me that he wanted to make the special hug with me.”

He’s actually heard worse come-ons. In fact, he’s heard guys hit on Darcy with far less tact (and she’s put them in their place for it).

“Before she had her first cup of coffee.”

He chokes on his coffee at Barton’s exclamation. Bucky is actually surprised she hadn't shot him _then_ tased him. You don't mess with this dame before she’s got her caffeine fix. It’s like the Avengers’ golden rule. That and never, ever make Pepper or Coulson angry. They have to power to make you regret your entire life and that is saying something coming from a former brainwashed assassin born in the middle of the Great Depression.

“Steve, Nat, and Bruce took the rest of the X-Men out to breakfast. I think it actually put Summers on our side.”

Darcy and Bucky both snort at the same time. Stark has managed to get himself in control. His face is still bright red. Barton takes a photo of that too.

“Dude’s still a dick.”

They all agree and manage to have a relatively quiet breakfast until Deadpool wakes up again. He seems to pick up where he left off like nothing happened.

“Pretty lady, I like the way you say no. It’s very, heh, _shocking_  ...and actually really clarifying. I think I can hear better now.”

He vaults up over the back of the couch. Bucky can feel his eyes linger on him even though he can't see them because of the facemask. The mutant flops into the empty barstool and grins at Darcy. He reaches toward her plate. Bucky stabs him with a butter knife. It pins his hand to the table. Nobody even blinks, though Darcy does move her plate of bacon closer to her.

“Come on, man! You don't know how much it itches when it heals.”

Bucky sends him a glare as Barton’s camera flash fills up the kitchen as he snaps yet another picture. This prompts Deadpool to smile at them (Bucky can see his lips moving under the mask) and point at the archer.

“Did I ever tell you about the time I first met Hawkass? It was the best of times. It was the worst… no actually the worst of times is when he shot me in the head. That sucked.”

Bucky tunes him out and eats his breakfast. He’s trying to figure out what went wrong in his life that this doesn't even register on the _weird-shit-that-has-happened-to-me_ scale.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I said I'd update on Tuesdays, but it's raining here. I figured somebody might need something to read in this weather. Curl up with a blanket and enjoy.
> 
> So Tuesday and Friday updates. (As long as I don't forget and not next Friday because I will be drunk. I'm not even going to try and pretend otherwise.)


	5. Chapter 5

“Thanks, Buck.”

A voice that is decidedly _not_ Bucky’s answers.

“You’re welcome, Cap.”

Their comms burst to life with voices.

“Darcy.” Natasha doesn't even sound shocked.

“Darcy!?” Steve sound shocked but that could be because he just just took a hit to the kidney.

“MISS DARCY!” The Hulk looks around for her while crushing two robots excitedly in his hands.

“You shouldn’t be on comms.”

Darcy snorts at Barton’s tone as she snipes another guy-robot- _thing_ before it gets too close to Nat. Natasha doesn’t even acknowledged the change up. She just vaults over the hood of a half melted car and keeps moving. (Bucky still doesn't believe that women haven't taken over the world yet.)

“Lady Darcy, you have decided to join the glorious battle!”

Darcy just laughs at Thor’s enthusiastic greeting.

“Long story short. I got separated during evac of the tower. Ran into some trouble and a strike team. I had them drop me here. The Winter Soldier is currently having some… performance issues.”

Bucky glares at her from where he’s still mostly immobile on the ground. Fucking electromagnetic mini bombs. His arm is completely fried and because they had to amp up the charge so much to affect it, it’s also kind of affected the rest of his body. He knows why Darcy loves her taser so much now.

“Yeah well, Darcy got fucking shot!”

She conveniently forgot to mention that to the rest of the Avengers. She gave him the run down while she quickly looked him over and set him up against the wall of the roof access. The strike team was trying to bring her to medical when she saw Bucky get hit with the mini bomb. He doesn't know what she threatened them with to get them to drop and leave her with Bucky, but they  definitely hopped to it. The silence over the comms is almost louder than the battle raging around them.

“Iron Man, get her to a medic.”

Barton doesn’t give anything away in his voice. He’s completely Hawkeye right now. That’s how Bucky knows he is pissed.

“I’m not leaving until Cap gets that building clear and somebody comes back up Winter Soldier. It’ll keep.”

Stark makes an impressed sound. Or it might be just the air being pushed out of his lungs. He just got tossed through a bus. Steve’s voice is firm when he comes back on after ripping a limb off of whatever those things are.

“You cover me, but once I get this building clear you will be reporting to the closest medic Lewis.”

His voice is all business. She salutes him without pulling her eyes from the high powered scope. He must be looking up at her. 

“Aye, aye Captain.”

Bucky is starting to get some movement back in his right hand. It’ll be a couple of minutes before he can get back up. His left arm is out for the count, but he can manage without it. He's done it before in the field. He grudgingly speaks to Darcy, glad that she is wearing her contacts today. They’re going to need accuracy.

“Weak spots in the armor are under the arm and between the face and neck. Sweet spot is the thing passing for ears. The head’ll burst like a watermelon.”

She lines up her sight, breathes, and puts a round right in the sweet spot if the sound of metal fireworks means anything. He’s pissed off and fucking proud. He notices though, that while her shots are clean, she’s getting slower to take them. She’s also breathing shallowly. He’s about to say fuck it and get someone to pull her out when Steve’s voice comes on.

“Building clear.”

Barton nearly talks over him.

“Iron Man-”

Bucky interrupts Barton. He does not like how pale Darcy’s already milky white skin is. She grunts as she shifts into a sitting position and lays his rifle on the ground. The wound on her shoulder is bleeding more heavily than she let on. There’s a small pool of blood where she had been laying down in her sniper position.

“Falcon, get your ass down here. _Now_.”

Sam knows how to handle wounded soldiers. Stark might do more harm than good in his suit. When the Falcon finally lands, Darcy is barely able to stand on her own. She still cracks a smile at the worried look in both his and Sam’s eyes.

“I know all the girls swoon over you Falcon, but I’m going to have to blame the GSW on this one.”

He laughs but makes quick work of scooping her up and into the air. Bucky makes quick work of the rest of his targets even if he can’t really feel anything past his hips.

* * *

After Stark fixed whatever it was the electromagnetic bomb did to his arm, Bucky posts himself in the medical wing to wait on Darcy to get out of surgery. The nurses and doctors didn’t even try to pull that _family only_ bullshit on him after taking one look at him. It probably has more to do with the fact that he's still in his Avengers get up, blood stained and dirty, than his go to hell glare. Natasha stops by with a bundle of fresh clothes and a mission report half way completed in her neat handwriting. He takes them both gratefully.

By the time Darcy’s out of surgery, he’s finished his paperwork, passed it off to a baby agent that was scared to look him directly in the eye, showered, and secured the entire wing of the medical bay that Darcy’s room is on. Now, he’s sitting by her bedside waiting for her to wake up. He’s practicing with a knife just for something to do to keep his mind occupied when he hears the soft thud of boots on tile. He figures Barton had been using the dropped ceiling as his method of travel as there are no air ducts leading into the room big enough to fit a fully grown man.

“How could you let her get involved?”

Bucky keeps flipping his knife over and over in his hand. It’s mostly to keep from sticking it into Barton. He meets the archer's eye, tosses the knife into his metal palm without making a sound, and repeats the rotation. He has to remind himself that Darcy would yell at him if he stabbed Barton (even just a little bit).

“Since when does anyone let Darcy do anything?”

Barton doesn’t speak. He just clenches his jaw harder. And Bucky? Bucky is just tired. He is fucking exhausted with this bullshit.

“Look, I don’t give a fuck what you think about me. I don’t give a fuck what you think you know about me and Darcy. Until the day she figures out that I’m all kinds of fucked up and bad for her, until she tells me to fuck off, I’m going to be here. Deal with it, Barton.”

He waits. Barton watches him coolly before his eyes dart to Darcy’s sleeping form.

“The asshole that shot her is alive?”

Bucky levels him with a glare. He hopes it reads _what the fuck do you think?_ clear enough.

“I hope it wasn’t quick.”

He was assured from one of the strike team (that he found and had a _pleasant_ conversation with, there was minimal threatening, honest) that it was, the agent had to ensure target elimination, but the last few minutes of his life where of agonizing pain. Gut shots hurt.

A soft groan has them both on their feet. Bucky reaches her first. (He trips Barton with his boot. He can only be so nice to the guy.) He takes her hand gently.

“Doll?”

She groans.

“The recoil on your rifle is a bitch, Buck.”

He laughs, relief flooding his veins. He kisses her on the cheek, and she shoves his face away. Or tries to. Her coordination is shot to hell. Pun not intended. Then she notices Barton standing there. The grin that takes over the face in blinding. When Barton returns the smile and takes her hand, Darcy blinks a few times, seems to register the state of her body, and finally notices the room she’s in. She lays her head back into the pillows

“Fuck, we are not doing that again.”

That has them both laughing. She gestures toward her bandaged shoulder. The movement looks even more uncoordinated and flimsy.

“How bad?”

Barton gently stops her hand to stop her from lifting the gauze to actually see the wound. Bucky notices that he doesn’t let it go. Darcy doesn’t seem to mind, so Bucky doesn’t go about cutting those fingers off.

“You’re going to have a pretty impressive scar but little to no tissue or muscle damage.”

She blows out a breath and a goofy smile stretches across her face.

“Awesome. Chicks dig scars.”

She kind of slurs out the last bit. Barton looks to Bucky. He raises an eyebrow and looks back down to her.

“How you feeling, Darce?”

She blinks slowly.

“Pretty freaking good.”

Then she giggles. Barton points out what’s in her IV drip. Bucky smirks. It’s the good stuff. Darcy won’t be in any pain.

“Gonna nap now. Should be cupcakes when I wake up.”

He laughs under his breath.

“Yeah, Doll. Gonna get right on that.”

She nods and settles back into her pillows.

“Make sure nobody dies.”

If she doesn’t let go of Barton’s hand even after she falls asleep, Bucky doesn’t say a thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just needed to post this after watching Teen Wolf. (Kate and her whole story and how Jeff handled this entire KatexDerek thing made my skin crawl. I had to take off the TV for the whole kissing scene.)


	6. Chapter 6

They said he’d have good days and bad days. It's been more good days than bad days since his memories came back since the shit they did to him in the Red Room finally wore off (but it will never really wear off, it’ll always be a part of him like some sick muscle memory) and his brain healed. He doesn’t get stuck in his head anymore, not like he was then, when _they_ had him. He has his own free will. But he still has bad days. Days where he wakes up with a gun in his hand and a knife up because the stupid cleaning-bots were making too much noise down the hall. There were days when he sent Steve flying through a wall during a workout because he got caught up in a memory. There were days when he was just uncontrollably cold. 

He knows this. He’s made sure all the Avengers know this. SHIELD knows this. His therapists know this. When he has a bad day, he bunkers down, rides it out, and goes talk to somebody when he doesn’t feel like he’s quite as dangerous (because he is always dangerous). So when he wakes up one morning, hand already around a knife and nerves frayed, he knows it’s going to be a bad day. But one of his therapists has been talking about pushing through it. He feels like he can handle it. He’s in the tower. He’s safe. He’s among his friends, his team.

He doesn’t notice her behind him. He’s too busy forcing himself to not scan the exits, the doors, the windows, too busy looking for a threat that’s not coming that he doesn’t even hear her tell him good morning. By the time he feels a hand on his shoulder, his whole body is screaming _attackdefendfight_. He slams her up and into the wall. He’s got her feet dangling a foot off the floor and a hand clenching down hard on her neck. He freezes at the look of sheer panic in her eyes. It feels like somebody tossed him into cryo again, his blood goes so cold.

“Bucky.”

It comes out as a gasp. He drops her. His whole body is shaking. There's bile burning the back of his throat. He turns tail and _runs_.

He disappears for a week. Goes completely off the grid. He’s fucking furious at himself. He’s also fucking terrified. He had Darcy by the throat. He could have killed her. The second it happened he was already starting to back down, but _he could have killed her_. One wrong move on her end, and she’d be gone. He feels sick to his stomach. He doesn't sleep for days, and when he does, all he can dream about is metal on alabaster skin, bruises giving way to blood, red lips cold and unmoving.

Shame and fury are not things that go well together inside someone as fucked up as he is. But completely cutting out without a word to his friends? (He would say his family but who wants a monster as family?) It makes him sick with guilt. He’s only planning to sneak back in long enough to pack his shit, leave a note, check in on Darcy, and fuck off somewhere where nobody would get hurt by him again.

He is not expecting to slip into his room and find Darcy sitting in the middle of his bed. The sheets are slept in. Her contact case is on the bedside table. It looks like she's been there for a while ( _days_ , she's been there for days his mind supplies, since he left).

“Darcy, you shouldn’t be here.”

She doesn't startle. She just waits him out. She makes him meet her eyes. Bucky kind of hates her for it because they are blank of any emotion. It fucking hurts to see her like that.

“Why? Are you going to finish the job?”

It’s not said meanly. It’s not said to hurt. She doesn’t even sound upset. She just sounds curious. It makes his stomach turn.

“No, Darcy. God, _no_.”

She shrugs.

“Then this is exactly where I should be.”

He watches as she runs a hand through her hair. It’s messier than usual, like she’d been playing with it. Her arm is still in a sling. Damn it, he could have fucked up her shoulder worse.

“I was so scared.”

God, getting stabbed in the chest hurts less than this. His knees almost give out. He thinks about running, but he knows Barton is somewhere nearby. He knows the Hawk has an arrow for him for what he did to Darcy. Bucky would fucking let him take the shot too. If he hurt her, if he’d hurt any of them, Bucky would be fucking lost again. Alone and without any kind of tether. He wouldn’t fucking make it. He’s too busy having an internal breakdown that he almost misses what she says next.

“I was afraid that you went off and did something stupid like go after an arms ring by yourself... again. We looked for you everywhere. Natasha’s been out there trying to track you through old channels and you know that means Red Room shit. Steve has been running himself ragged up and down New York. Tony had Jarvis running facial recognition software... You had us all worried, Bucky.”

He nearly does fall over.

“You, you were worried about me?”

She gives him a look that makes him feel like a dumbass. He throws it right back at her.

“I almost killed you, Darcy. You shouldn’t be worried about me. You should be scared of me or, or pissed off.”

Suddenly, she does look pissed off. She squares her shoulders from her seat on the bed. Her chin is held high, and her eyes flare defiantly.

“I am pissed. I’m pissed because _they_ did that to you. I am pissed that you looked at me like somebody gutted you. I’m pissed because you ran away. You were hurting, and you ran away from me and from the rest of your family.”

He clenches his fists at his sides. He shouldn’t have friends let alone family. It’s too dangerous for them. (It’s too dangerous for him.)

“I could have killed you, Darcy. I could still hurt you.”

She shakes her head at him. She’s so calm about all of this. There is no trace of fear in the way she holds herself, how her shoulders roll back. No shadows haunt her eyes.

“You won’t because you wouldn’t hurt your best friend. And you know how I know that? Because you’re my best friend, and I don’t want you hurt. I’m not mad at you, and I’m not scared of you because _you are my best friend, you are my family_. You got that, Barnes?”

He sinks to his knees on the bed in front of her. She doesn’t even flinch when he leans in to lift her hair away from her neck. There are still bruises that would fit the shape of his fingers perfectly. He feels like he might throw up. His voice cracks when he speaks.

“I almost killed you, Darcy. I almost killed my best friend before, Darcy. Fuck, I tried to kill Steve. I tried to kill him, and I tried to kill you.”

He’s crying and when the fuck did that start happening? Then Darcy’s good arm is around him, and he’s holding onto her like she’s the only thing keeping him together. Hell, she kinda is.

“We forgive you. It’s okay.”

But it isn’t. None of this is. Everything has been so fucked up for a long time.

“I’m fucked up, Doll. I’m so fucked up, and nobody can fix me.”

She grabs his face roughly and makes him look at her. She’s crying too. Her hand gentles on his face, but she still looks at him with fierce determination. Her voice is steel when she speaks. There is no hesitation, no lie.

“You don’t need to be fixed because you are not broken, Bucky."

He lays his head in her lap and curls his arms around her and holds her as tightly as he dares. She pets at his hair and ignores the tears staining her pants. 

“You are not broken.”

He must fall asleep on her because when he wakes up Darcy is out like a light propped against the headboard, and Steve’s sketching them quietly. Her neck is gonna kill her in the morning. He slips out of her grasp and shifts her until she lying on the pillows. Then, and only then, does he turn to Steve.

“When we came back here, you promised me something."

He nods his head and swallows.

"No more running.”

Steve gives him a sad smile and moves closer to the bed. Bucky rubs at his burning eyes.

“No more running.”

Steve hugs him hard enough that he can feel his ribs creak.

It feels like benediction.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, short, sad chapter but Happy 4th?
> 
> (Don't hate me for this.)


	7. Chapter 7

Tony’s lab looks more like a garage and feels more like a pool hall than a lab. It’s the only reason Bucky isn’t crawling out of his skin. He can tolerate Jane’s lab because of all the pictures of the universe and the ridiculous amounts of throw blankets she has everywhere (also the candy she has stashed everywhere). He can’t stand being in Bruce’s lab at all. It’s too neat, too clean.

Tony doesn’t even have some table or a designated chair for Bucky to sit in while he gets his arm worked on. Half the time he sits on the leather couch, and Tony sits next to him, and they catch up on whatever game they’ve missed. (Pepper has banned them from watching _How It’s Made_ together. Tony likes to explain how they make it _wrong,_ and Bucky goads him into showing him how he could make it _better_. And they only blew up half of the parking garage that one time.)

This is the sixth time Tony’s ever worked on it. Bucky doesn’t have anything against Tony. He just tended to take care of his arm on his own. If it were damaged on a mission,  _they_ would fix it. It just didn’t seem to matter to them if he was awake or not while they did it. He might not have much sensation, but he still felt the heat of the welding flame and the soldering iron and the cutting torch. The inside, the biomechanical muscles, had to be attached to his own muscles in order for him to control them. The Soviets didn’t think much about forking out the extra cash to rewire his nervous system fully. Small fucking mercies.

When he told Tony as much after the first time the billionaire worked on his arm, he went dead silent. Bucky didn’t know Tony well enough then to know how much of a warning sign that was. Tony locked himself in his workspace for three days and came out with new schematics for his left arm. Tony figured out how he could turn the pain receptors off while he worked on Bucky. He figured out a way to do it so Bucky could be awake too (because he knew Bucky wasn’t going to let anyone put him under and operate on him ever again). It also gave him more sensation. He could _feel_ what he touched even if it was muted. He spent an entire day touching everything. (Darcy threw a cheese knife at Clint when he made a stupid comment. She never even dislodged his hand from combing through her hair where her head rested in Bucky's lap. Clint looked impressed and jealous.)

This time it’s just routine maintenance. Tony is trying to convince Bucky to let him put mini rocket launchers in his fingers. He’s also mentioned getting a paint job at least twice. He favors gold and hot rod red, just like his dad. If Howard Stark had it his way, the only blue thing on Steve would have been his eyes. Bucky looks at Tony as he tinkers away. He has his father’s looks and his brains. His wishes he could have known Maria more, better. He wishes he could see what parts of her live on in Tony.

“Your dad and I didn’t get along that great at first.”

Tony’s hands falter, but he keeps working. Tony never talks about the man. Bucky figures he might as well. One of his therapists have been slowing encouraging him to share what he remembers, the good and the bad, with the others.

“He loved Steve to death. Gave me the mean mug all the damn time.”

He smiles at the look he can recall easily from the days spent down in the bunker at SHIELD HQ. It’s just like Tony’s but with less facial hair.

“I didn’t figure out why he hated my guts until I realized the pretty dame I was flirting with in records was Maria. I didn’t know he was sweet on her.”

He laughs to himself mostly.

“You don’t try and steal another guy’s gal. I cut it out and helped perpetuate the fondue euphemism with Steve for a bit. Got me back in his good graces. I’m not saying we were best buds, but we were friends.”

He smiles at Tony who’s looking at him now. Bucky knows his relationship with Howard was rocky at best, but he feels like Tony needs to know this about his father.

“He was a good man. Not many people know about this, I don’t think Steve does because it’s not in the official records, but he looked for me, my body, after I,” he has to take a second to swallow past the word before he can say it, “after I fell. He couldn’t spare much time once they found the HYDRA base and Schmidt, but he tried.”

He takes a breath and looks at Tony.

“I don’t remember everything I did when I was the Soldier. I don’t remember them, but I know I did it. I killed your parents, and I never apologized-”

Tony slams the tools he’s using on the coffee table and glares at him. His hand is shaking as he holds out a finger to jab into Bucky’s chest.

“Because you have absolutely fucking nothing to apologize for. The person who did those things wasn’t you. It wasn’t you, Bucky.”

He runs a dirty hand through his hair and turns away. His back shakes with the ragged breaths he takes. He has tears in his eyes we he turns back to Bucky, but he looks more composed.

“I wouldn’t let you live here, I wouldn’t trust you, and I sure as hell wouldn’t let you near the people I care about if I didn’t believe that.”

The words hit Bucky like a bullet. He didn’t open his mouth expecting forgiveness. He just wanted to settle his own conscience. The forgiveness kind of pales in comparison to Tony’s trust (because Tony Stark doesn’t trust just anybody). Bucky clears his throat. He's not surprised how rough his voice sounds.

“I figured out Pepper’s password. You wanna watch _How It’s Made_? There’s a segment on underwater robots.”

Tony rubs at his eyes but nods and sits back down next to him.

“I have a fully aquatic suit in production.”

Bucky smiles as he overrides Pepper’s protocols. JARVIS doesn’t even fight him that hard.

* * *

It takes Jane two hours before she notices that she isn’t alone in her lab. And honestly? It’s only because she dropped her pen and had to pick it up that she noticed someone sitting under the table covered by fuzzy throws and eating her Junior Mints. He’s going to mention to Thor that she needs work on her situational awareness… after he finishes this round of Fruit Ninja.

“Do I even want to know?”

He shrugs, swipes his finger aggressively across the screen, and pops another three mints in his mouth. She drops the blanket back down. A half a second later, she lifts it back up. He raises an eyebrow at her. Jane raises one right back.

“It’s going to bug me if I don’t know why you’re hiding in my lab.”

He kind of winces but complies.

“I may have blown up Tony’s coffee maker?”

He doesn’t expect her to grasp at her chest and give him a happy grin.

“Oh, thank god! That thing was an affront to coffee makers everywhere.”

It’s hard not to share a fist bump with her. He knew everyone else hated it! Only Tony or Darcy could ever make it work. His relief is short lived as Jane immediately gets suspicious. Her eyes narrow, and he feels like he’s stuck under one of Bruce’s microscopes.

“That does not explain why you’re hiding in my lab.”

“I may have framed Steve for it?”

He rubs at his neck and grimaces in advance. Jane’s voice gets high when she’s angry.

“ _Bucky_!”

He winces and shushes her.

“Tony likes Steve better! And this is just until they both cool off. Give it another four hours. If they come looking for me, just tell them you haven’t seen me.”

She glares at him, but he can tell that she’s already calculating a risk assessment behind those pretty brown eyes. She knows Bucky hates the labs, so it’ll be the last place Steve looks. Hell, he might not even look here at all.

“Stark can ask JARVIS to find you.”

Bucky grins.

“Nah, JARVIS and I are cool. The coffee machine was the only thing that had full autonomy from him. He was worried about it becoming sentient.”

Which is actually something he has to be concerned about. Apparently, one of Pepper’s old phones came to life during a board meeting after Tony modified it. She killed it with her shoe. (He needs to ask Natasha is she’s killed anyone with her shoe before. He thinks the answer is yes.) He’s seen all the Terminator movies (thanks to Sam and Darcy). He’d rather err on the side of caution and not let Tony accidentally create Skynet with a shitty coffee maker.

“Also, Tony would never come down here. He’s scared of you. He thinks if he pisses you off you’re going to send him to another dimension. And he’s got that thing about,” he wiggles his fingers, “space.”

Jane nods sagely. She looks a little proud of Tony being scared of her. Then she’s narrowing her eyes at him again. She doesn’t trust the ex-Soviet assassin. Good on her.

“What makes you think I could lie to Captain America?”

He narrows his eyes right back at her. (He doesn’t miss how she’s not concerned about lying to Tony Stark.)

“When his shield went missing right after that massive blizzard in January and somebody sliced a park bench in half at the bottom of Cedar Hill, you didn’t seem to have that problem.”

She starts to protest, but Bucky stops her with a smirk. If he’s getting thrown under the bus, then she’s coming right along with him. She raises her hands and shrugs her shoulders.

“Who the hell is Bucky?”

He frowns at her. She smiles back at him with a shit eating grin.

“Too soon?”

He reaches over and steals the bag of gummi worms hiding between some binders to smite her smug grin before tugging the blanket from her grasp and letting it fall to block him from view. He goes back to playing Fruit Ninja on the phone his swiped from a baby agent. He wonders how long the poor punk will go before he notices that it’s missing. He doesn’t care that Coulson is going to give him the “No, it’s not considered training when half of them are too scared to not let you take it” speech. Bucky is just eliminating the weak links for him, really. He should be grateful.

* * *

“Can’t I just go in and-” he makes a fist with his left hand.

Darcy rolls her eyes and adjusts her dress to make sure it’s still covering the wrapped bullet wound on her shoulder. It’s a red number this time, and it had half the Tower lobby drooling. He’s fighting against wanting to toss his leather jacket over her and carrying her home to make her change and watching as the hemline slides another inch up her thigh as she moves in her seat. She turns to him to pout with perfectly matched red lips.

“Natasha and Phil taught me. I’ll be fine.”

He doesn’t doubt that. He really doesn’t. His face must read otherwise because she sighs and gestures toward herself.

“How many people write me off automatically as a big boobed bimbo that’s riding the coattails of her brilliant scientist friend?” 

There is an immediate need for him to know these people's’ names so he can set them straight.

“I know what people think, what they perceive, but I know who I am, Barnes.”

She leans forward with a smirk.

“And that is a 5’6 brunette with a 160 IQ and a killer rack that has never paid for a speeding ticket or drink in her life.” 

Bucky smiles at her. He can’t help it. People just kind of fall in love with her. This is going to be an easy mission. All she has to do is flirt some information out of him. And if it doesn’t work her way then he is clear to do it his way. Darcy must sense his murdery thoughts because she pats his arm consolingly.

“Oh sweetie, he won’t even know he sung like a canary until he’s in custody.”

The grin she gives him is downright evil. He feels oddly proud. He shadows her into the restaurant. No one notices his entrance because they are all too busy noticing her. It takes less than a minute for a drink to appear before her at her seat at the bar. She wanders over to the mark’s table. She makes quick work of small talk. Everything is going smoothly until it isn’t. Estefan Rodriguez, currently the second in command to Louis Fernando the third largest black market weapons dealer in the world, spooks. He slides a photograph one of his bodyguards has brought him onto the table. It’s that fucking picture of her and Bucky from fucking Tumblr.

Her cover is blown. He’s about to move in, hands on the coms to signal the strike team outside, when she gives him their safeword, twice, before continuing the deal. The dame has balls, that’s for sure. 

“Now, now, Mr. Rodriguez. We’ve been having a good time so far.”

“Yes, we have been before you turned out to be a SHIELD agent. I am not in the business of killing pretty girls, mi carina, so leave before I change my mind. You won’t get anything from me.”

Instead of leaving, she smiles. Bucky starts scanning exits and doing a headcount. That smile could mean good or bad things.

“That’s where you’re wrong. I’ve gotten plenty from you.”

 He looks amused. He gestures for her to explain.

“Comparing your tan and the areas of known activity by your little group tells me that there are only five viable countries that Louis is in. Within those, there are only so many places that he can hide a shipment of weapons that large.”

She gestures toward the bodyguards standing at his back. 

“They are speaking Portuguese, very localized Portuguese, at that. I can already remove two countries from the list.”

He freezes long enough in talking for Bucky to know that Darcy’s got him. Holy shit. Estefan doesn’t do anything but steeple his fingers like a bad James Bond villain.

“What will I get for my cooperation?”

SHIELD knows that Estefan has been poking around, trying to find a way out. That’s why they chose him as an asset. Darcy gives him one of her winning smiles. This one has just a little bit more teeth though. He approves.

“Your cooperation won’t help you at all. But we will make damn sure Louis can never lay a hand on your daughter Vanessa or your wife Camille again.”

It takes minutes for him to spill all the details. It takes little more than half an hour back at the tower to pinpoint the location, come up with a plan, and put together a team. Bucky is strapping his thigh holster on in the belly of a helicarrier when he turns to Darcy.

“How did you know about his family being threatened?”

“The screen saver on his phone. When it was lit up, he would rub his thumb against his daughter’s cheek.”

She shrugs. That was a pretty impressive catch. They had speculation, but not solid intel.

“How did we clear those two countries that fast?” 

“We didn’t. We had eight on the list, and we were still dealing with political red tape.”

He whistles.

“Damn, Doll.”

She winks at him as she walks off of the quinjet's loading bay.

“I learned from the best.”

He smirks. She smirks right back.

“You do know that I was talking about Natasha, right?”

His team cackles behind him. He throws a cold look over his shoulder. Dead silence consumes the entire plane. He turns back to the sealed doors. At least some people are still terrified of him.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNING: This chapter is the reason I tagged this as Graphic Depictions of Violence. If you feel uneasy about kidnapping, torture/interrogation, or physical abuse please be cautious.

They take Darcy in the middle of a busy street. Nobody knows it's even happening until it's over. She puts up a good fight. Two of their guys are on the ground when they get there. One of them is no longer breathing, and the other one is bleeding and favoring his left leg. Bucky votes that they leave them there. Steve vetoes him, but he doesn’t look too happy about it. Natasha isn’t too careful with the thug during interrogation and ends up breaking his already fractured leg. _Oops_.

He sings like a fucking bird. They have Darcy’s location within three hours of her kidnapping. It’s three hours too long for Bucky. Tony had been in the suit for two of those hours already. Steve has threatened to ground Tony so he won’t go after her alone. He is faster than the Quinjet. Bucky won’t lie and say he hasn’t thought about breaking into his lab and sweet talking JARVIS into letting him into one of Tony’s other suits. The AI likes Darcy just as much as the rest of them. Clint looks like he’s thinking the same. Bruce must smell the crazy on them because he flashes green eyes and makes them help Coulson ID the rest of the thugs that grabbed her from some CCTV footage.

For the record, he fucking hates Doom and his stupid minions, and if he never has to work with the Fantastic Four again he’ll be fucking happy. They don’t even get an offer of an assist when they inform them that their arch nemesis has kidnapped one of the Avengers. (Johnny Storm is a fucking prick. Darcy ain’t got the cape or the powers, but she’s just as much an Avenger as the rest of them, goddamn it.)

When they finally get the green light for a wheels up, they are all itching for a fight. The Hulk practically demolishes half a building getting them in. Tony is tracking Darcy by her cellphone. He’s managed to turn it back on remotely once he blew up the machine that was blocking the signal. The bad guys seemed woefully unprepared. They hadn’t thought they’d find her this soon. Huge miscalculation on their part. Doom’s not even there which makes Bucky all the more pissed off. They make quick work of the outbuildings, clearing them quickly. Steve, Tony, and Natasha are fighting their way into the room where the signal is strongest while the Hulk flattens anything that doesn’t lie down and play dead. Bucky and Clint slip off to where Tony tells them they'll find Darcy.

They have to clear the hall before they get to the damp cellar the have her in. Clint’s already slung his bow across his back, so Bucky takes up point. What he sees when he carefully looks into the half shattered glass window of the door makes his blood boil. Darcy is zipped tied at the ankles and wrists. She’s strung up and suspended from the ceiling on a hook. The guy in there with her is asking her a question, oblivious to the chaos around him or just uncaring, and it seems like it isn’t the first time he’s asked.

“What are the codes.”

“Dude, I told you. There are only three people I answer to. You do not look like my mother, you sure as hell don’t look like Pepper, and, unless Coulson got a really bad face lift, you don’t look like him either.”

She gets a punch to the ribs for that answer. She doesn’t make a sound. Clint’s knuckles go white on his knife. Darcy lifts her head and sneers at the man. She’s got a cut across her forehead on the right that’s bleeding into her eye and running down her cheek. The left side of her face is already starting to swell and bruise up. Her shoulder is also a bloody damn mess. Bucky really doesn’t need to see anymore, not when that thug is raising his hand to hit her again. He rips the door down and shoots the bastard in the head before he can even draw his weapon.

Darcy smiles at them with bloodied teeth. Bucky would very much like to shoot the guy again. Instead, he quickly makes sure the room is clear. Clint is holding himself very, very still.

“I think I popped my stitches.”

Bucky breaks the doorframe under his hand where he’s stationed himself to keep a line of sight on the hallway. He has to take a breath in order to speak calmly. 

“Clint’s gonna get you down, Doll.”

His names shocks him into action. Clint makes quick work of the zip tie around her ankles. He looks her in the eye before he goes for the ones wrapped around her wrists, the ones bearing the weight of her body, the ones eating into her skin, the ones that are covered in her blood. Bucky has to take some more deep breaths.

“This is going to hurt, Darce.”

She takes a shaky breath and smiles again and god, she’s being so brave.

“Figured that out already, Hawkass.”

Bucky can tell this is affecting Clint because he doesn't react to the nickname. There is no argument, no smirk, no good natured teasing. Clint wraps an arm around her legs to lift her weight and slices through the plastic easily with his knife. She fucking whimpers as Clint eases her arms down as slowly as they can manage it. She’s crying by the time he’s got her in a bridal carry. His face in a mask of fury and rage. They must be perfect matches. Bucky touches his communicator.

“We've got her. Coming up.”

When Natasha sees what they did to Darcy, she snaps the arm of the man she’s subduing like a twig. Steve doesn't even chastise her for it. The Hulk roars, and it’s only Coulson coming over the comms that stops Tony from blowing up the entire building on exit. Steve pulls himself back together quickly, the fury in his eyes replaced with a calm mask, and gets them back on task and moving. They pass off clean up to the ground agents filtering in. Darcy is their main priority. She keeps her face pressed close to Clint's neck. She’s so, so quiet. It’s unnerving. She doesn't talk until they get her in a seat in the Quinjet.

“Shouldn't you be flying this thing?”

Clint strokes at her hair but doesn't answer her. He still looks pissed. Bucky can relate. He could stand to kill a few more things. But he speaks softly to her.

“Nat’s got it, Doll.”

Bucky tries to strap her in, but she grabs at his metal hand and pulls it around her. He shifts over until he’s plastered against her side, his arm over her waist and gripping the chair. He’s essentially made himself into a seatbelt. Steve looks worried, but Bucky shakes his head. It must be killing her ribs to sit up like this, with his weight against her, but if this is what Darcy needs, then that's what Darcy gets. Natasha is a safe enough pilot. She can cover for Clint.

Besides, Darcy won’t let go of Clint’s vest. She hasn't let him go since he cut away the zip ties on her hands. Her face is buried into his chest. His rough, reinforced flak vest must be hurting her, pushing into the bruising on her face like that, but she refuses to let him go. She won't let either of them go. Fine tremors rack her body. They both curl around her tighter. Tony is viciously chewing somebody out on his phone, the Fantastic Four if his "Mr. Fantastic-Fucking-Asshole" is anything to go by. Bruce is rifling through a med-kit. Steve is still kneeling in front of her. He won't feel better unless he can see her face, look her in the eyes. He speaks softly to her.

“We'll be home soon, Darcy.”

She nods, finally turning enough to catch his eye, but flinches at Steve’s gentle touch to her head. She grabs at his hand before he can pull it away.

“S-sorry, Steve.”

They all shush her.

“Nothing to be sorry about, Doll.”

Steve gives her his hand to clench when they hit some turbulence. (Natasha is cursing up a storm in Russian under her breath.) Bucky rests his head against Darcy's good shoulder and just breathes. The relief sinking into his veins is a fucked up kind of drug. Eventually, Bruce gives her something that puts her to sleep. Bucky is grateful and fearful all at once. He knows that the nightmares come in the black of sleep, and they aren't exactly forgiving with their timing. Steve helps lay her out on the medical bed so that Bruce can start working on cleaning up her wounds. Clint stands as a silent guard next to her, his hand carefully holding hers. Bucky takes up the same position on her other side.

* * *

Darcy spends more than a few days in the hospital. Her catalogue of injuries included a gash on her forehead that needed to be stitched up, wrists that needed a few stitches and had to be treated and wrapped twice a day, surgery on her shoulder again because of the strain of being suspended, and three cracked ribs. Bucky only leaves her bedside because she threatens to get Steve to make him. (He goes home, showers, changes, and then he shadows her until he thinks he'll be welcomed back. He notes that somebody else has been using the same hideaways as him. He pushes the ceiling tile back into place. For an assassin, Clint’s not being very careful, but Bucky is willing to cut him some slack this time.)

She does have nightmares, but he helps her through them, they all do. Clint spends a lot of time making some pretty epic blanket forts with her when she can’t sleep. She starts meditating with Bruce. She and Steve spend hours in the kitchen. She's finally teaching him how to bake. Coulson refuses to let her back on active duty until her shoulder really heals this time. Darcy doesn’t push, but she does some light training with Natasha and helps out in Jane’s lab like her early days. Sam comes talk to her twice a week. Tony amps up her taser and puts a tracker in just about everything she owns. (She finds most of them, but doesn’t seem too upset about it though she does chew him out about the ones he put in her bras.) Bucky lets her have whatever she needs, even if that’s a butterfly knife and teaching her how to use it.

Thor is pissed as hell that they didn’t alert him, but he calmed down when Steve explained that they didn’t have the time to wait. He spends an entire day watching kiddy movies with her and bringing her all her favorite snacks. It’s the first time she’s laughed since the kidnapping. Everyone loses the tension they had been carrying. Bucky slides down the wall just outside the media room and just listens to her laugh for the longest time. 

She’s okay, and he’s hell bent on keeping her that way.

* * *

Three weeks later, she’s smacking him in his flesh and blood arm. He’s man enough to admit it kinda stings, even with the super soldier serum. She points to where Steve is talking to a pretty blonde on the other side of the glass wall of Coulson’s office.

“Hmm, seems like the CIA didn’t suit her.”

He watches Darcy size the woman up out of the corner of his eyes. If there is anyone else that loves Steve as much as he does (that isn’t Sam Wilson or Phil Coulson for that matter), it is Darcy Lewis.

“She jumped ship after the whole Hydra fiasco?”

He shrugs.

“More like she jumped ship after he jumped ship.”

She spares him a glare at his pun then goes back to looking at the two blondes talking amicably. It looks like she’s asking him somewhere. He could read their lips, but he doesn’t feel the need to. Steve can handle himself. Apparently, he does because when he smiles at her she blushes and nods. He follows her out the door, holding it open like the gentleman he is.

“Well, looks like he’s charmed yet another women. I wonder if he can charm the pants right off of her too.”

She nudges Bucky’s shoulder with her own. Which is a feat in and of itself seeing as he has six inches on her. He laughs.

“Nah, Doll. I’ve never met a dame with the last name of Carter that hasn’t made Steve work for it.”

Darcy goes completely still. Her voice is almost shrill when she talks. (He thinks it’s a side effect of working with Jane for so long.)

“ _That_ was Agent Neighbor?”

He scrunches up his forehead in confusion at her sudden change in mood but nods. Suddenly, Darcy is in motion. She’s grabbing her bag and headed toward the door. Apparently, her meeting with Coulson to get her back on active duty is going to take a back seat to this. She has her phone out before he can really process what’s going on.

“Jarvis, I need a background check, last known address, aliases, and work schedules. Start compiling da-TAH!”

Bucky has already scooped her up over his shoulder and is carrying her down the hall in the opposite direction of Steve.

“Oh, no way, Doll. Steve is gonna handle this on his own.”

She punches him in the kidney. He falters a step but keeps moving. He can hear her mumbling about goddamned super soldiers under her breath before she speaks up.

“Yeah, and I am going to handle _her_.”

He sighs and shifts his weight so her second punch glances off and hits his arm. She hisses when her knuckles meet metal. He would feel bad for her, but her bruises have long since faded and the medical team had used the good stuff to heal up her wrists and shoulder nicely.

“He liked her, and she lied to him.”

Bucky shrugs, ignores the squeak that Darcy lets out as she clambers to grabs onto his shirt for balance. He rolls his eyes. (Like he'd ever let her fall.)

“And he forgave me for trying to kill him, multiple times.”

He can feel Darcy sag into his hold. She jams an elbow into his shoulder blade and props her chin on her hand to glare sullenly at world around them.

“Clint would have let me. Hell, he would have helped.”

_I’m not the one ass over bowstring for you._

He wants to say it, but Bucky bites his tongue. It’s not his place to tell her. Just like it’s not his place to mess around anymore with Sam or Steve. (He should have never told Sam about Steve’s crush on him. He apologized, but he still thinks they are both stupid for not at least trying. Who gives a fuck about bigoted assholes in Washington anyway?)

“Yeah, yeah. What were you even going to do? Put dye in her shampoo?”

Darcy’s voice is quiet when she speaks. It’s almost cool enough to give him chills.

“Don’t make me suffocate you with my thighs.”

He keeps walking and tries to come up with a way to deter Natasha from teaching Darcy new things. She’s nowhere near close to the Widow, but she is getting a fairly strong reputation as a badass (and her friendship with Bucky has nothing to do with it).

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this tonight instead of tomorrow. I have school things to take care of.


	9. Chapter 9

There are exactly three people in the world with his phone number. One of them just went to sleep like the old fart he secretly and theoretically is, one of them refuses to use it and instead likes to contact him by popping out of nowhere when he least expects it (and he would like Natasha to know that shampoo still fucking burns if it gets in your eyes, even with super soldier serum), and the other likes to send him screencaps of things she finds on the Bucky/Steve tag on Tumblr (fucking Tumblr). He takes a wild guess and answers.

"Doll, it's kinda late for a rant about fan fiction or whatever it is you crazy kids get up to now a days."

She doesn't laugh. That gets him up and out of bed and reaching for his boots and the knife he has stashed behind the painting by the door before she’s even spoken.

"Okay, first of all? Fan fiction is a fucking art form, Barnes. And second of all, how much money does SHIELD put in your bank account?"

Bucky pauses in strapping his thigh holster on.

"Aw, hell. Doll, what did you do?"

She grumbles over the line.

"I still maintain that he tasered himself in the balls."

He drags a hand through his sleep-mussed hair and sighs over the line (only because she can't see the proud grin on his face).

* * *

When he gets to the 5th Precinct (it’s one of the older ones that haven’t been merged yet. It’s a little bigger than a hole in the wall, but Darcy could have ended up worse. She could be the South Bronx and not Lower Manhattan.). He walks up to the main desk and rests both uncovered fists on it. He doesn’t care if the guy manning the desk knows who he is. Hell, he prefers it. They’ll know he’s not playing around. But to give the officer at the reception desk some credit, he doesn’t flinch or show any signs of unease.

“What can I help you with, sir?”

“I’m here to post bail for Darcy Lewis.”

The officer actually smiles when he says her name. Bucky narrows his eyes. The officer, Hansen, raises his hands in a placating manner.

“Off the record, those two assholes got what they deserved. I wish more women handed it right back to guys like that. But I saw the entire thing go down, and they wanted to press charges for assault. My hands were tied.”

Bucky can appreciate that he didn’t want to arrest Darcy, but he had a job to do. So does Bucky once he gets the names of the two thugs in the bar that were hounding Darcy, the ones that grabbed her without her permission. As far as he is concerned, they deserve more than a broken nose and a taser to the dick. (He’s willing to bet Clint agrees.) He slides over the envelope of cash and signs the forms Officer Hansen hands him. He also notices that Darcy’s file and arrest paperwork are conveniently left open on the desk. He finds the name and addresses of the two assailants (fuck them listed as the victims when Darcy had a hand on her ass and one up her shirt). He doesn’t really think that Hansen cares that Bucky sees this. In fact, this whole process is going much smoother and faster than he anticipated. He would say it’s Coulson’s doing, but Darcy wouldn’t have even stepped foot in jail if he was involved. Bucky’s leaning toward Hansen being an ex-SHIELD agent.

“Can I see her now?”

Hansen nods and files the paperwork away in his desk before turning and gesturing toward the back of the station, toward the bullpen. When Bucky walks in, he isn’t surprised to see her sitting on one of the officer’s desks with a cup of coffee in her un-cuffed hand.

“So her hand is still stuck in the jar, I’m trying not to panic, the microscope’s on fire, and I still have half an Icee left.”

The men and women gathered around her laugh. This is the story about how Jane cannot “do the shit out of science” on four hours of sleep and a couple of 5 Hour Energy shots. Seriously, Tony had it put into a contract, and she had to sign it. There are warning signs about it in the labs right under the _Wear Eye Protection_ ones. 

“She broke the jar over the microscope, used the lid to hit the panic button frisbee style, and managed to finish her Icee during evacuation.”

She turns to him and smiles. She brings both hands up to press over her heart. 

“James, my hero!”

She uses his given name in public because he’s actually the only Avenger that doesn't want to be recognized (partly because of the whole Winter Soldier/I-kind-of-broke-Washington-a-year-ago thing so let’s not post my face everywhere and partly because he’s really good at not being caught on film except that one fucking time, _fucking Tumblr_ ). He nods at the officers before he jerks his thumb back toward the front entrance.

“Come on, Doll. You’re free to go.”

She gives Hansen a wink on the way out. He remembers her saying something about liking British accents. Bucky helps her into his hoodie and glares at him. Hansen shrugs like _what can you do?_. Darcy lets Bucky open the door for her, but she freezes when she sees who’s leaning against the car. He’s grinning at his phone. She turns and glares at him. Bucky shrugs.

"Who the hell did you think was funding this Op?"

Tony cackles with glee. He must have already broken into their database… and yes, he’s looking at her mugshot.

“Damn, Lewis! If looks could kill!”

She grabs his phone and threatens to compile a look book of his mug shots and sell them on Ebay.

“I actually think someone has already beat you to it, Lewis.”

She huffs and walks off. She does manage to give Happy Hogan a smile though. They have some weird bond over a TV show. Tony slides up to Bucky as she climbs into the passenger seat of the car to discuss Mary and Matthew Crawley with the driver.

“I take it you’ve already got the information you needed.”

Bucky gives him a sharp nod.

“You need help destroying these punks, give me the word and their GPA’s go negative along with their bank accounts.”

He grins as Tony starts walking backward to the car. The billionaire tilts his head to the side in consideration.

“You know you look creepy when you smile like that, right?”

 Bucky shoves him into the backseat.

* * *

He isn't surprised to get called into HQ along with Clint the next day before lunch. He is, however, completely unprepared for the Director's offer (read: order) of a week off for work well done. He knew Coulson had a soft spot for the dame. Hell, Bucky hasn't found a single person who doesn't.

"Miss Lewis' desk was quite the destination stop this morning."

He slides a photograph of a large bouquet of pink peonies, orange roses, and deep purple poppies. It looks like it cost well over the $50 stipulation. (There might have been some kidnapping, a little threatening of two dumbass frat boys that may or may not be still duct taped to the flag pole, naked, in the middle of NYU’s quad with the words “misogynistic douchebag” written across their foreheads.) Clint silently gives Bucky his fist to bump. He meets the other man's knuckle with his own under Coulson's cool gaze.

"I have since put a hold on ruining their credit with defaulted student loans, though it looked like someone else had been prepared to do it before me. However, I will be monitoring them should they have any further transgressions."

So if they ever try to pull the same shit on someone else as they tried to do on Darcy, they've got some pretty steep repercussions coming their way. Bucky likes it when Coulson gets all vengeful. It's _fun_.

"Glad those boys figured out what they did was wrong."

Coulson snorts.

"For two of my top agents, I expected a little more discretion."

Clint shrugs.

"As long as Darcy doesn't find out."

Coulson grins.

"Oh, she is completely aware of what you two did. She said it was "cute" and to thank those “adorable dumbasses.” Honestly, you should just be grateful that she finds it endearing and not overbearing and oppressive."

Clint suddenly looks a little less tan. Bucky has a vision of a pissed off brunette lecturing him about feminism, female agency, and the fact that she can ruin his life with a single text messaged video. (There may or may not have been a video of him drunk off his ass, half naked, with a neon green feather boa, singing a heavily altered rendition of the Star Spangled Banner the last 4th of July in honor of Steve. The language he used had _Natasha_ blushing. Darcy had swore she deleted it. Bucky new better. She probably had it saved to three separate devices and whatever the hell _The Cloud_ was.)

"May the lord have mercy on us all."

Coulson nods empathetically.

"Maybe cut back a bit, boys. She can handle herself."

He gestures to the now void police report on his desk. Yeah, she can. But he's always gonna have her six. He glances sideways at Clint and catches him staring back. He gives him a short nod. Bucky grins. It’s always nice to have backup.

* * *

Bucky should have known the second he woke up from a nightmare-less dream that it was going to be a bad day. He should have known that the flying robots were just a distraction. They were far too easy to take down. It was just a stupid diversion tactic to get Magneto out of his holding cell. They still managed to win with the X-men's help, barely. Clint took a header off a building. He was lucky that Iron Man managed to catch him even though the impact left him with a few broken ribs and a fractured arm.

The rest of the Avengers were sporting more mild injuries. Bucky is just coming back from getting stitched up himself when he pauses outside of Clint’s room. The archer is heavily sedated because the idiot kept trying to get back up and fight. Darcy is sitting beside Clint, holding his uninjured hand. She looks pale and scared, and Bucky fucking hates that look on her. He makes sure his boots makes noise on the shiny tiles as he enters.

“Hey, Doll. How’s he doing?”

She stiffens and wipes at her cheeks. Bucky kind of wants to punch Clint in the face. Dumbasses don’t deserve to have pretty girls crying over them. Not with the wishy-washy shit Clint’s been pulling. One day he's draping an arm over her shoulders on movie night, the next he's avoiding her like the plague.

“The doctor said he’d be in and out for a while until his system starts regulating the drugs. Everything should heal up okay.”

He nods and slowly makes his way over to her side. It’s actually more about the heavy tiredness leaking into his bones than giving her more time to get herself together, really. Getting slammed through a building sucks.

“Jarvis was filtering you the footage wasn’t he?”

She turns sharp eyes and a stern frown on him.

“I’m not just going to ignore what’s happening when my friends are out there fighting for their lives!”

He holds up his hands and sighs.

“I know, Darce. I know. Sorry.”

She deflates at his honest words and grabs at his right arm, eyes widening at the thick gauze of bandages there.

“What the hell happened to you, Bucky?”

“I may have started singing selected sections of  _You Can't Touch This_ when Thor hit Magneto in the face with his hammer. Then Magneto threw a stop sign at me.”

She quirks a brow, and let’s go of his arm.

“Weirder shit has happened.”

He shrugs and regrets it. His shoulder burns; the weight of his left arm feels heavier than usual. Darcy catches the wince on his face and gives him a soft smile. He wishes it would meet her eyes. There is nothing worse than an upset dame. (There is nothing worse than an upset Darcy.)

“Like Tony carrying Clint around bridal style.”

She turns back to the sleeping marksman. Bucky wraps his right arm around her shoulders.

“He’s made of stubborn stuff. He’s gonna be fine, Doll.”

She leans against him. She’s warm tucked against his side. She’s also safe. It helps to lose the tension still in his body.

“You called him Clint, not Barton. And you said Tony.”

He shrugs. He’s been calling them that in his head for a while now.

“Yeah, that’s their names.”

She smiles at him and pulls him into a hug that, he’s not going to lie, kind of hurts. But he returns it. She knows what it means. They aren’t just people he works with or lives with. They are his friends, his family.

* * *

The first thing Clint asks for when he wakes up is the status of the other Avengers. The second thing he asks for is the status of Darcy when he notices that she isn’t there. Bucky throws his hands up in frustration and walks out of the room. He can hear Steve talking to Clint as he walks down the hall. 

“Pull your damn head out of your ass and ask her out already.”

He’s pretty sure that’s Tony giving him a slow clap. He’s also pretty sure that the smack to the back of Tony’s head comes from Natasha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Officer Hansen is a nod to another of my favorite guilty pleasure spy movies.


	10. Chapter 10

One thing that Bucky is grateful for is his ability to get drunk. That’s the one thing the Russians didn’t screw the pooch on. Unlike Steve, all it takes for Bucky to get drunk is a steady stream of booze. Once he stops drinking though, he’s sober in around half an hour depending on how strong the liquor is. Darcy somehow ferreted that out of him early on in their friendship. She has bullied him into being her drinking buddy (it’s not a hardship sharing a few with her, and he sleeps easier at night knowing that he got her home safe after the whole her getting arrested thing.)

Sometimes it’s a nightcap from Stark’s stocked bar, sometimes it’s a pub-crawl that gets the majority of the Avengers to stay out into the early hours of the morning (if nothing tries to take over New York, or, you know, the world). Sometimes it’s for special occasions or ridiculous holidays that he swears she comes up with just to fuck with him (National Gorilla Suit day cannot be real but, on the other hand, he can get behind National Pancake day).

Tonight they are celebrating Cinco de Mayo (which is so misinterpreted it’s not funny). They started off in a cantina with most of the Avengers and a fresh off the plane from DC Sam Wilson. They might have lost Thor for an hour, but he came back with a donkey, Bruce, and Jane in tow. So no harm, no foul. (But a fucking donkey? Where the hell did he get a donkey in the middle of Manhattan?). Tony bought the whole place a round to apologize. They gorged themselves on food and drink and managed to all stumble back to the Tower in one piece. He and Darcy are the only ones still going. He’s working his way through a to-go bag of Churros, and she keeps bringing him alarmingly bright colored margaritas. He thinks that for the last two rounds she's put all the tequila in his. He doesn't mind. They pick up their conversation right where they left off.

"Okay, okay, but Teletubbies."

She snorts at him and fishes the cherry out of her drink.

“Why are you stuck on a kids’ TV show from the 90's?"

Bucky accidentally sends a Churro flying over the side of the tower when he waves his hand at her. He should be more concerned that they are two drunk people, sitting on the outside patio of Stark Tower, a helluvah a lot of feet high, but all he can think is _awww, Churro_.

“Because they're, they're fucking _Teletubbies_.”

She concedes to his point with a sage nod.

“Yeah, I mean they're Teletubbi-holy shit! They _are_ Teletubbies. They have _televisions_ in their _tummies_!"

She cracks up laughing. Bucky blinks at her then promptly snorts and sips from his margarita.

“Fucking weird as shit.”

They are interrupted by JARVIS clearing his throat quietly above them.

“Miss Lewis, Agent Barton is requesting your location.”

Darcy smiles up at the little overhead they are sitting under. Like she can see Jarvis. (Hell, Bucky does it too.)

“Yay!”

He rolls his eyes at her enthusiastic reply.

“Should I tell him of your current whereabouts?”

She nods seriously. She has to reorient herself by grabbing at the arms of the outdoor recliner.

“’couse, J.”

God, she’s drunk off her ass. It’s kind of fucking adorable. He smiles at her.

“He's going to have to pour you into bed, Doll."

She grins at him and slumps back in her chair.

“S'okay, as long as I do the shakin'.”

She does a little shimmy that turns into her snuggling back into the plush chair. She's out before Clint even gets there. Bucky watches him silently over the rim of his glass. How a man handles a situation like this tells a lot about his character (though Bucky knows plenty about Clint’s character already. The work together, live together, and fight together). Clint looks her over with a fond smile on his face.

“She’s going to be feeling this tomorrow.”

When Bucky doesn’t say anything, he leans over to brush her hair from her face.

“I’m gonna bring her to bed, make sure she gets some water into her system.”

He leans over to pick her up but freezes and looks back at Bucky.

"Isn’t this where you threaten to break my fingers if try anything?"

Bucky snorts into his blue margarita. He takes a second to wonder why it tastes like peaches.

"Hell no. You wouldn't try anything. Besides if you did try anything, I wouldn't threaten, and it wouldn't be just your fingers."

He gestures with his metal hand towards Clint's crotch. Clint gives him a wry grin as he lifts her into his arms. He inclines his head.

"Bucky."

"Clint."

"Darcy!"

They both look to the sleepy faced girl grinning at them. She seems to have caught the very end of their conversation. Then narrows her eyes at Bucky, then pointedly offers him her cheek. He sighs but drags his heavy, liquor warmed body out of the chair. He kisses her cheek.

"Night, Doll."

She smiles sleepily at him.

"Night, Bucky."

The she offers up her other cheek to Clint. He carefully leans down but she turns her head last minute, capturing his lips in a chaste kiss. He doesn't move far when she pulls away laughing softly.

"Haha, got you."

She snuggles into his hold, face tucked up against his shoulder. He looks gobsmacked as he walks away. 

"Yeah, you got me."

* * *

The next morning has everyone in a state of either hungoverness or rumpledness. Thor and Jane are still passed out on a couch in the living room. (He has no idea where the donkey went. He kind of doesn't want to know.) Natasha has put on a pot of coffee and is waiting silently for it to brew. Bruce is only moving to lift his tea to his lips. Tony has sunglasses on and is leaning heavily into Pepper. Darcy and Clint don’t exactly come in with big smiles on their faces (Darcy looks hungover as hell). They sit side by side at the counter, and she hides her face against Barton’s arm. He rubs her back soothingly and places a kiss on her head. Pepper and Natasha make a cooing noise. Tony hands Natasha $500 bucks. He catches Bucky glaring at him.

“What? Like you knew it wasn’t going to happen.”

He opens his mouth and slowly closes it as Natasha slides one of the bills to Darcy. She grins and tilts her head enough for Bucky to see. Then Natasha leans over and hands one to Pepper. Clint makes a dying sound. The revelation that the women of the Avengers are sneaky as hell is cut short as Sam and Steve come into the kitchen laughing. Sam is not wearing the clothes he was wearing last night. Oh, no. Those are definitely Steve’s boxers and the Iron Man t-shirt Darcy got for him last Christmas. There is a deep red hickey that has to be either fresh or massive for it to stay that long on Steve’s neck.

Tony falls off the stool in shock. Pepper sighs and leaves him there as she goes back to reading the new York Times on her tablet. Clint’s jaw drops even wider, if that’s even possible. Bruce goes back to his tea. Natasha slowly slides a bill to Bucky. He grins as Steve blushes bright red. Sam just points a finger at him.

“Uncool, Barnes. Uncool.”

Darcy gives him a high five without lifting her head from her Clint pillow.

* * *

Bucky would like to revise his previous statement. The X-Men are assholes; the Fantastic Four are dicks. Really, it’s just Johnny Storm. The second Darcy walked in he’d started hitting on her. When she not so subtly told him that she was dating Clint (she seriously pointed to Clint at one point and said “I’m tapping that.”), he started to hit on her harder. There was only so much Sue could do to try and put a leash on her brother.

Bucky keeps an eye on things from where he’s sitting and chatting with Sam in the unofficial time-out zone.

“I seriously don’t see it. He looks nothing like Steve! The nose is all wrong."

Bucky is kind of inclined to agree. He also wants to add that the major difference is that Steve isn’t a dick, but Natasha keeps looking at him like she can read his mind. She’s already gotten in a swift and undetected punch to his kidneys when he tried to make a jab at Mr. Fantastic being flexible enough to kiss his own ass. Now he’s in time out with Sam. (Sam’s hands kept getting a little too personal with Steve’s ass.)

This is supposed to be some kind of team relationship building exercise. All it seems to be building is Clint’s anger, and Darcy’s need for her taser. Bucky’s about to start taking bets with Sam about who’s about to break first when out of nowhere Tony slams his glass of scotch down on the coffee table.

“I swear to Thor that if you don’t stop trying to grab her ass I will break your fingers for Barton.”

Johnny smirks at him, but he finally steps away from Darcy.

“Stark, weren’t you chasing hot pieces of tail like this all over the world not too long ago?”

Tony grits his teeth.

“That hot piece of tail has a name. It’s Darcy. Darcy has also been telling you that she isn’t interested. I guess your hot head just burns up all the oxygen before it reaches your brain doesn’t it?"

Johnny’s smirk gets a little darker. He moves closer to Tony. And fuck, yeah, Tony’s already starting to call his armor. Shit. Shit. Shit. Bucky jumps over the coffee table. Darcy is already pushing her way between them.

“Tony, I can handle this-“

Johnny sneers at her and makes an almost dismissive motion toward where Clint is barely restraining himself for going after the Human Torch.

“All I’m saying is that her boyfriend hasn’t been handling her properly.”

Tony has a repulsor pointed at his face. Clint is pulling a fucking knife out of nowhere. And Darcy…

Darcy doesn’t even realize what she’s picking up. He can tell. She’s just grabbing whatever she can to hit Tony across the head with in order to stop a brawl. She stops mid-swing when she sees what she’s actually holding. Everyone else stops too. He’s probably the only one not surprised. Clint is staring at her gaping like a fish. Tony is making a strange squeaking, gasping sound. Hell, even Natasha looks shocked (her jaw is dropped open and everything). Johnny looks very, very sorry. (And shit-his-pants scared. It is hilarious. Bucky should have made Tony put a camera in his arm, damnit.) Darcy blinks at Mjölnir in her hand, and then she blinks up at Thor.

“Well, fuck.”

Thor starts laughing and shouting about throwing another feast, this one worthy of such a warrior as Lady Darcy, while picking her up and twirling her around, hammer still in hand. Clint looks like a lovesick puppy (nothing new there). The Fantastic Four are looking at them like they are all insane. Sam and Steve are trying to control the situation and are failing completely. Bruce hasn’t even looked up from his book. The man has reached a whole new level of zen. Natasha is video conferencing Pepper. Darcy looks shell shocked and confused and just plain fucking happy. And Bucky?

Bucky laughs so hard he cries. 

It feels fucking great.

(It feels like home.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So that's the end! I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! 
> 
> Thanks for reading!

**Author's Note:**

> This came from a need to have at least one Darcy & Bucky fic that revolved around their friendship. You know they'd be the heart of the Avengers and that their pranks would be epic.
> 
> Chapters will vary in length. Tags may change.


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